Confessions of Seven Mobians
by Fortune
Summary: Shadow finds his heart's desire caught in the wake of his deepest fear. #CO4#
1. Sonic's Ideal

**Author's Note:** Welcome to the fourth installment of my Sonic saga! Though I've designed this story so that you don't need to read the previous ones in order for it to make sense, I feel that they do serve as an enrichment to its background and would greatly enhance your enjoyment of it. For those who have not read the previous installments and would like to do so, the number listed after "CO" in each story's summary indicates the order in which they occur. Either way, thanks much for your interest and support!

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Chapter 1 – Sonic's Ideal

I knew I'd never look at Shadow the same way again.

Who'd have thought that Silver's little vacation to my time would've ended with me and him goin' to the Space Colony ARK? And another 60 years ago at that! Somehow he got the bright idea to "help" Shadow by saving his friend Maria from the GUN agents, but as it turned out, it did more harm than good. A _lot_ more. We finally had to go back and let the poor girl die after all, just to get the awful mess fixed…but some things would stay forever changed…and I was one of them. Like I said a while ago, I just couldn't help but feel bad when I looked at Shadow after that. I'd think about the kind of life that he once lived, the way he used to be—playin' board games with Maria, smiling, laughing, knockin' dominoes across the room—and how much he'd changed since then. Now he was cold, bitter, distrusting, just an unpleasant kinda guy to be around…and, maybe I was bein' too hard on myself, but I felt a little bit responsible for that. It was like I had the ball in my hands, and I just let it drop right out. I really felt the need make it up to him somehow.

But hey, first things first—there was a little detail I needed to take care of in my own life too!

Amy was pullin' supper out of the oven when I walked into the kitchen. Looked like some kind of baked fish and smelled pretty good, but the last thing I wanted to do was eat. My stomach was doin' the Macarena while I stood there like an idiot, waiting for the right words to say…or more like the gall to spit 'em out.

"Tilapia tonight," was all she said when she saw me come in, in this dull, lifeless voice that she'd been using a lot lately. I definitely needed to get this out.

"……Umm…."

C'mon, dope, just say it!!

"I…don't suppose I…."

"Huh?" Amy looked up just as she was transferring the last piece of fish over to the platter, and it ended up falling on the counter. "Aah!"

I took another breath while she dealt with that. "…I, um…I don't guess I've…told you lately…how much I care about you…."

She looked at me again with the weirdest look on her face. It wasn't _that_ odd to hear, was it? "…Are you feeling okay, Sonic?" she asked. I had to turn away; I knew my face had to be red.

"Yeah," I laughed off the awkwardness, but then it hit me, the thing I ought to be saying. "Well, actually, no…I feel like I don't tell you that enough." By the time I peeked back at her, her amused grin had softened into a touched smile.

"Aw, that's so sweet!" She pulled off her oven mitts as she came over to give me a quick hug. I pulled her in close, actually feeling tears come to my eyes (eh, it'd been an emotional week). While her face was still pressed against my chest, she asked another question. "Not to complain, but what brought that on?"

"Well, you know…." I trailed off tryin' to decide how to explain it to her without bringing up that whole Maria thing. After a few seconds she pulled away and looked at me, waiting for me to finish. "…It's just…when I was at Vinnie's Pizza with Silver and Shadow last night, I realized just how lacking their lives are of real companionship, and I figured I oughta appreciate what I have more."

"Ohh, yeah." She looked down with a sad, almost guilty expression. After thinking about it a second, she looked back up. "I can understand that about Shadow, but I didn't think Silver was really that bad off; is he?"

"Hah! He got this little ecosphere thing full of water and shrimp, and he _named_ the shrimp in it!"

Amy was already busy with the tilapia again but broke out laughing at that. "What did he name them?"

"Uhh, Bubbles…Scampi…Moustache……Alfredo…and Floatie, I think." I shook my head while she laughed some more. "I told him they were _all_ about to become floaties." I got nothin' against shrimp, but he got on my _nerves_ with that thing, constantly talkin' about it and risking both our lives so he could drag it all over the ARK with him. That's one ball I wish I could've dropped. Poor Blaze was probably being tortured with it now that he'd gone back to his own time.

"Hmm…" Amy seemed to have drifted off shrimp as she set the fish on the table. "…Do you think it's good that we've been setting Shadow up on dates?" She seemed kinda concerned when she turned back to me, but I gave her my most reassuring smirk.

"I'd say that any social activity does him good."

She smiled again and nodded. "Yeah, I hope so. There's a girl at work, a lynx, who I think might be a good match for him. See, I think the mistake I made before was to try to pair him up with more talkative girls to make up for his untalkativeness, but I think now what he needs is someone who can read him and understand what he's thinking without the need to talk all that much, and this girl's pretty good about that."

"Yeah? Got a seventh sense to her, eh?"

"Something like that." She headed back into the kitchen and shoveled some hot rice out of the cooker into a big bowl. "Umm…were you planning on going out anywhere tonight?"

Uh oh.

"Nowhere in particular. Why?" As if I didn't already know.

"Would you mind stopping by the mall and asking Shadow if he'd like to go out with Lydia, that girl I just told you about?"

"I take it you tried calling already."

"Yeah, he never answers, and he never calls back when I leave a message. I doubt he even checks them."

It was a way to score extra points on the home front, at least. "Okay, I can stop by there for ya after supper."

And stop by I did. Shadow had only had his mall job a few weeks at this point, so I was careful to time my visit to be just before his shift was due to start. I walked into the mall's security office, where the orange-bun-haired lady at the front desk typed away at her computer, pretending not to notice me. "Hey there!" I greeted, getting her annoyed attention, but attention nonetheless. "Shadow here?"

"He's in the back." She just started typing again after that, so I just took it upon myself to go on in. That really got her attention. "Uh, _excuse me_, only security personnel are allowed in the back!"

I chuckled on my way back out. "Oh, my bad, thought this was a self-service station!" With the look she gave me, you'd think she and Shadow would actually get along. I didn't know whether she had something against Mobians or just hated everyone that had anything to do with Shadow or what, but I just flashed my most charming grin at her, the way I always do with these kind of people. It didn't do much to tame her sneer as she turned to the microphone on her desk.

"Shadow the hedgehog, you have a visitor." And back to typing she went. At least I didn't have to wait long after that. Shadow came out seconds later, wearin' a security band on his left arm and only a half-scowl on his face. Apparently he was in a good mood. I lifted a friendly hand, hoping he'd stay that way.

"Hey! Got a minute?"

He crossed his arms. "What do you want?"

"Uh…" I paused and glanced over at the orange bun lady, "…let's go outside the office." After we stepped out into the corridor, I turned to find him starin' at me with an eyebrow cocked. I decided to cut to the chase. "Amy asked me to come here and see if you were interested in hookin' up with a girl she knows." Waiting for the go-ahead before saying any more, I watched him drag a quiet sigh.

"Tell her I'll be off tomorrow," he finally said, opening the door to head back into the office as he did so.

"Hold up," I laughed, "don't you wanna know her name or species or anything?"

He paused with his back to me. "…It doesn't matter." And then he walked off. I stood there watching him through the door's tinted glass pane, suddenly overcome with a sour feeling—not of anger or resentment, but of…sadness. He was going through the motions, but he wasn't even trying anymore. I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge between them, wanting to clear my head, but all I could see was Maria's face, beaming with the sweet laughter that was still so fresh in my mind. It was like I was the one who was now trapped in the nightmare that plagued him for so long, doomed to ask myself for the rest of my life what more I could've done.

I wandered with an unusually slow pace toward the nearest mall exit, but then, I was unusually bummed. I felt the need to do _something_ significant for someone, something above and beyond…but heck if I knew what. That's when the display of a corner-side jewelry store caught my eye. There was the photo of a husband givin' his wife a tenth anniversary ring, reminding me that my seventh was comin' up soon. All at once it dawned on me one special thing I could do—get Amy that wedding ring she'd always wanted! Hey, better late than never! I was already in good spirits again by the time I walked into the store.

And then something else caught my eye. Behind the sales counter, a pretty yellow hedgehog was in the middle of a heated exchange with a robust mole on the other side. I figured she had to be the same girl Shadow mentioned at Vinnie's the night before, one of his new acquaintances. I waited for the mole to leave while I browsed the cases, but judging by the intensity of their argument, it didn't look like it'd be anytime too soon. Worse still, the guy totally ranked of musty earth and was stinkin' up the whole store. What the heck was his problem, anyway? I was breathing through my grimaced teeth as I listened in, soon finding the nature of their little quarrel to be a domestic dispute. They were obviously well familiar. Finally the mole stormed off after the lady sharply pointed out the presence of a customer. Sheesh, 'bout time!

She was pretty worked up when I approached her counter, huffing, frowning, flushed—and once I was near, I realized that she carried the mole's scent as well. They were mates. I was deliberating whether I should come back another time when she turned to me and, just like flippin' a light switch, broke into a radiant smile. It was all I could do to keep from bustin' out laughin'.

"You must be Raye," I began, flashing a debonaire smile of my own. Her eyes lit up like little apricots in a bowl of cream.

"Yes I am!" She then tilted her head and squinted at me a bit, probably tryin' to figure out whether she should know me. I saved her the trouble.

"I'm Sonic…Sonic the hedgehog!" The intro was accented with one of my coolest poses, which I save for just such occasions. It was enough to spark recognition in her expression.

"I thought you looked familiar!" she relayed. "But…how is it you know me…?"

"Shadow told me about you; he's a friend of mine—uh, well, we put up with each other, anyway," I chuckled.

"Ohh, well it's nice to meet you in person, Sonic!"

"Most definitely likewise."

I don't wanna drone on with the boring details, so let's just say I walked out of that place with two things. The first was a gold ring set with seven diamonds, one for each year of marriage shared between my wife and me. The other was a hunch: It was only a matter of time before this mole fellow was out of the picture…and I knew just the guy who could use Raye's sunshine in his life.


	2. Tails' Revelation

Chapter 2 – Tails' Revelation

Ever since we first met, Sonic had always been the stronger of the two of us, and I was fine with that…but why did I have to be _this_ weak?

Like a festering wound in my soul it remained with me, that horrible scene we found on Mercury's third birthday. I'd taken the kid to Amy thinking I was doing her a favor only to find out she'd told Shadow that he could keep him, so we went to take him back and in the process became acquainted with Shadow's new mate, a possum named Maple. I left Amy at Maple's place with her so they could talk, but then Sonic got ticked and wanted me to take him there, so I did…but instead of finding Amy, we found Maple dead in a pool of her own blood. A pair of hedge trimmers was sticking out of her chest, and her mouth was gaping and……I hadn't been able to truly get it out of my mind since.

I found myself returning to the location of the horror, as I'd done several times over the years. This time, however, while gazing from a distance upon the possum's tree-topped farmstead, the questions that had also plagued me—how it had really happened and who was truly responsible and why—ceased to surface. Only one thing seemed to matter, one goal: reconciliation. Somehow I had to find a way to make peace with this trauma, and simply visiting the place wasn't enough. I needed to delve deeper.

Dust covered everything inside the earthen home, which hadn't been inhabited since the incident. Most of the furniture and such was still just as I'd seen it that day, though it appeared a few individuals had stopped in. That was one good thing; the remoteness of the location had kept it from being ruined by riffraff vandals. In fact, it almost seemed as if suspended in time, perhaps even trapped in that fateful moment…much like myself.

I walked up to the spot where Maple's body had lain; a large, dark stain was easily discernable on the floorboards. The kitchen table was right nearby, still bearing the glass dome that covered Mercury's birthday cake…or what used to be cake, anyway. Beside it there was a bowl of hard, shriveled up little brown things I couldn't identify. That much was new; considering how ingrained the image from that day was in my mind, there was no doubt about that. After a quick browse through the kitchen cabinets, I made my way back into the living room and glanced over the hardback titles on the bookshelf. Most of them seemed to relate to plants and gardening one way or another, though there were a few children's books at the bottom, obviously intended for Mercury.

Was it helping, being here, going through her things? I honestly couldn't tell. My interest was certainly piqued, though, and I wasn't about to stop now. I continued back through the living room and then ventured for the first time around the dividing wall to the other side of the house. This was where her bedroom was. I stopped in front of the door, suddenly overcome with a wave of guilt, but that was soon trumped by my growing curiosity. Creeping inside, I was surprised to find it so small. The bed was by far the biggest thing in there, which took up three-fourths of the space. It was perfectly made with a hand-sewn patchwork quilt and big enough for two, I noted, which for some reason made me envision her sleeping next to Shadow. I wondered to myself how they'd met and just what kind of a relationship they'd had and how it factored into her death. My hand reached out to touch the inviting fabric, but I stopped short with a jump as one of my tails knocked something over beside me. Turning to see, I found the withered remains of a small potted plant, now rolling on its side across the top of a nightstand. The soil was so dry that none of it even spilled out. I turned it back upright and got a better look at the meager furnishing. Besides a hairbrush and a few pens and pencils, there wasn't anything else on top, but it also had two drawers. I only hesitated a second before opening one. All it had inside was sewing supplies, which left me exhaling disappointedly. The second drawer, however, held some cards and photos and a small blue book. I picked up the book and flipped through a few pages, quickly realizing it was a diary. Disappointment rose in me again, though, when I found that the most recent entry had been made several years before Shadow ever made the scene. Nevertheless, I sat on the bed and began to read.

_Dear Diary,_

_I bought you today so I could write about what's new and about my dreams and secrets, but now Maple is mad at me because she thinks that sisters shouldn't keep secrets from each other._

Wait…this diary wasn't kept by Maple? She had a sister?? I searched with increasing interest for the author's name, but it was never mentioned. Even a forage through the pile of letters in the drawer yielded no clear answers. A heavy, deeply longing feeling came over me, weighing my instincts toward what I now knew I needed to do. Clasping the diary close to my heart, I got to my feet and marched out of the home.

At the community's local library that evening, I sang quietly to myself as I searched old records and articles for any information I could find on Maple's sister. "He'd rather haaaave…a buffaloooo…take a diarrhea dump in his ear…" —What the heck was I singing?! I shook my head and decided to concentrate more closely on my search efforts. Hours later, I still didn't have a name for the individual I sought, but I did have what appeared to be a promising lead. Now I was grateful for the tiny size of the town nearest Maple's farm; it made finding places so much easier. Checking one residence pointed me to another, then another, until finally I was informed that the sibling of "Crazy Maple," as I learned she was called, had once visited from the Mobian city of Woodbrick. Another quick check of the letters stashed in the nightstand, and I had everything I needed.

Woodbrick was over 300 miles away, but reaching it took almost no time at all in the X-Tornado. Then there was the matter of landing. Space was so limited that I ended up having to park the plane 12 miles from my destination, in what didn't look like the friendliest neighborhood. I walked the distance quickly, looking over my shoulder often. At last I reached the address I'd copied from the Woodbrick-postmarked letter, which, as it turned out, was an apartment on the third floor of a five-story complex. Rusty metal creaked as I ascended the first flight of steps, and after spotting a couple of unsavory characters on the second floor, I decided to go ahead and fly myself to the third. I swallowed and cleared my throat as I knocked on the appropriate door. In the silence that followed, I stood completely still and listened very carefully for any noises from inside.

That's when she tapped me on the shoulder.

"UUAAAH!!" I yelled, and I must've jumped four feet high. When I landed, I found a dainty mouse ducked down with her hands over her head, her groceries having been dropped on the floor. "Oh…I'm sorry," I addressed her between breaths, "you really startled me!" One of my hands held the diary against my pounding heart while the other reached to help her up. She took it hesitantly.

"Sorry…." It was the only thing she said. She gathered the handles of her bags before fully standing up, and then we just stared at each other for a few seconds while a dog barked in the distance.

Finally I spoke. "Uhhh…was there something you wanted…?"

"I was just wondering what you wanted," she answered shyly, then motioned to the door. "This is my apartment."

"Oh!! ..Oh, I see……um……I was actually looking for a possum named Cedar, if you'd happen to know where I could find her…."

Her polite smile spread a bit. "I don't know any possums by that name, but it's mine, if a mouse will do."

"You're Cedar?? Maple's sister?" She confirmed it with a nod.

"Half sister. Are you a friend of hers?"

I froze with my jaw slightly hanging. She didn't know. My eyes lowered condolingly as I replied.

"…Kind of. My name is…Miles." I don't know why I didn't just give her my more common name. I guess I was feeling kinda paranoid or something. "I'd really like to talk with you about some things concerning her, if you don't mind." Her expression sank a bit, and she nodded.

"There's a coffee shop a couple blocks down the street from here, if you'd like to meet me there in about ten minutes."

"Okay, sure." I was somewhat taken aback at not being invited in, but then, having some guy you've never seen before show up at your door when you're a girl living by yourself can be unnerving, I suppose. "See you in a little bit!" I hastened around the corner, then leaped from the third floor and let myself drift down.

Mocha Madness was relatively easy to find. I let myself in and took a seat in the corner, hiding the diary under the table in my lap. Cedar entered a short while later, with an apprehensive look in her eyes. It was at that moment that I realized how well her name matched her reddish brown fur…not that it was horribly significant or anything. Then again, maybe it was. Up until today she'd been little more than a jotted down name, and now I was coming to terms with the fact that this was indeed a real person. She approached my table with a reserved smile.

"Hello, hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

"Not at all. I appreciate your coming out." I glanced down at the empty table between us. "Uhh…I'm gonna go get some coffee real quick. Would you like some?"

"A small hot cocoa, please, if you don't mind. Oh, and please ask them to make it at the lower steam temperature…and, and chocolate whipped cream, or plain if they don't have chocolate…and a dusting of cocoa's fine if they ask." I nodded at each request, regretting not having my notepad.

Once our beverages were steaming in our hands, we got to talking. I explained with as much tact as possible how I had kind of met Maple through Shadow and what had become of her as best I knew. Cedar listened with tears eventually brimming her eyes. "We hadn't been in touch for a very long time. We were never very close to begin with. The last time I saw her was when I went to visit her, gosh, about eleven or twelve years ago. I feel bad that I didn't keep in better contact, but I know that if you hadn't come here to tell me this, I still wouldn't be thinking of her. But I guess some things you only get one shot at." She was quiet for a while after that, and we both sipped our drinks. "…Ugh, they put cinnamon on it."

I blinked and raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

"Nothing. Um, I was wondering something, about her guy…whatever became of him after that?"

"Oh, uh, he's living alone with his son now."

"They had a son?"

"No, he was from a previous relationship."

"Oh…." Her eyes went distant as she pondered it. "…I think…I'd like to meet him."

My eyes flew wide at that. The first thing that came to mind was that maybe I should've told her that Shadow was thought by some to be the one who had killed Maple. I'd left that out because I didn't know what to think myself. But if she went and met him and found that out, it could turn ugly…and I'd have basically lit the fuse of another bomb.

"I can…go ask him and see if he'd like to meet you," I offered. "I mean, I imagine it's still a pretty sensitive subject for him, and he doesn't know that I came out here."

She nodded. "I understand. Give me a call after you get a chance to talk to him, okay?" Sliding the napkin out from beneath her cocoa and retrieving a pen from her pocket, she wrote down her cel phone number in purple ink.

"I will. It was nice meeting you, and I'll talk to you soon."

On my way back to the plane, I called Sonic on my cel and asked him where I could find Shadow. It'd been years since I'd last seen him, after all. Sonic asked me why I wanted to find Shadow, but I just told him that I wanted to ask him something. I feel bad that I wasn't more upfront, but for the time being this needed to stay on the down low. Sonic gave me the two most likely places to find Shadow: his apartment and the Diamond Mill Mall where he worked. It was getting pretty late by this time, so he told me to check the mall first, since he worked nights. I flew my plane straight from Woodbrick to that location. At least this place offered plenty of parking.

A grouchy woman at the desk of the security office told me Shadow was already out on duty, so I went out into the mall in the hopes of spotting him. It was hard not to get distracted by all the stores, especially ones with cool gadgets like The Sharper Image. …Okay, so I stopped in there for a minute or ten. After that I worked my way through the food court, then around another corner, where they had the performance stage and some surrounding kiosk shops…and that's the area where I found him. He was standing near the stage, having a conversation—and the girl he was talking to? HELLO, NURSE!! She wasn't really a nurse, of course; she looked like she worked at one of the nearby stores. But damn, talk about smokin'! She was a grayish raccoon with charcoal stripes, wearing a pink hooded pullover and short pleated dark blue skirt. Her snow white gloves ended with a straight-edge flare at her wrists and her shoes were like dressy laced boots that came halfway up her calves.

But I digress!

Being too nervous to approach Shadow with the girl present, I waited at a bit of a distance for her to leave. Just as she turned to do so, we made eye contact—and she winked. For a second I almost forgot why I'd come! She continued on her way, and I got a hold of myself and proceeded to go after Shadow, who was also departing the scene.

"Shadow, wait up!" I called as I neared. He stopped and turned, looking a little surprised to see me. "Heh," I started off casually, "been a while, huh?"

"…Yeah," he replied while giving me a wary eye.

Hurrying past the formalities, I went on to the matter at hand. "Sorry to bother you at work, but there's something I wanted to ask you." He waited quietly to hear what I had to say, but I found myself ahead of myself. The last time I'd talked to him was well before that whole incident with Maple even. I had a million things I wanted to say. "Um…I know that this is horribly overdue, but I want you to know first of all that I'm sorry for your loss a few years back, on Mobius…and I'm sorry that I didn't say sorry sooner." His increasingly uncomfortable expression told me to get on with it to my point. "Anyways…I don't know if you were aware of this, but…Maple has a half sister named Cedar, and I met her recently." Those piercing red eyes widened at me, demanding details. "She's not mad or anything," I quickly added, "but she says she wants to meet you."

"What could she possibly want from me?" he asked darkly.

"It could be that she needs some form of closure," I suggested, though in the back of my mind I was calling myself an idiot for saying anything that might encourage him to go along with it. "Just, uh, lemme know if you want to do that, 'kay?" He nodded and walked off with only one more thing to say.

"Don't hold your breath."

That item of business out of the way, I turned around, admittedly searching for the raccoon girl, but now she was nowhere in sight. I wasn't about to ask Shadow about her, so I simply counted it a fluke and made my exit.

Boy was I mistaken.

About two weeks passed after that, during which time I'd informed Cedar that Shadow wasn't ready for her to come by just yet and that I'd let her know if anything changed. Though I thought of her often, I'd all but forgotten about the girl I'd seen at the mall. Imagine my surprise when Shadow suddenly showed up at my workshop one day and handed over a little ribbon-tied bag of cinnamon-roasted almonds.

"Someone asked me to give this to you," he stated with a flat yet somewhat dutiful air. He stood by as I opened the card attached to the ribbon and lifted it up to read. A hand written phone number was inside, followed by a brief message:

_Hey Hot Stuff,_

_Call me for a good time._

_-Trixie_

I was blushing so badly by the time I looked up that I was sure he could see it through my fur. "Wh-who gave you this??"

"A tanuki who works at the mall."

Tanuki? It took me a second to realize that he was referring to the girl who up until that point I'd thought was a raccoon.

Shadow went on, "She asked me to get an answer."

"Oh, uh, sure!" I stammered, glancing back down at the gift. "Tell her thanks, and I'll be sure to give her a call."

I made true on my promise that evening, and my first date with Trixie took place the following Sunday night. On Monday afternoon I dropped by Sonic's house to let him know how it went; after telling him I was going out with a tanuki, he said he had to know.

He leaned forward at the dining table with a big grin on his face. "So how'd it go?"

I continued to pick at the edges of my turkey sandwich. "Well………it was……she's…." He chuckled at my hesitation.

"It's okay, Tails; you're among friends."

"…She's a _HO_!!" I had to wait for him to stop laughing so loudly before I could go on. "Every time she'd open her mouth she'd talk about sex or something that had to do with sex, and she was hanging all over me everywhere we went, embarrassing the hell out of me in this nice Italian restaurant…I felt like I was with a hooker!"

Sonic was about to fall out of his chair. "Hah hah hah hah!! I knew it!"

"Um," Amy interjected, "would anybody like some more tea?" Though she was sitting with us, she'd pretty much left this conversation "to the boys" and just listened quietly throughout the meal.

"Sure, I'll have some more, thank you," I answered. She took my glass and hers and headed into the kitchen.

"Actually," Sonic called to her, "I think I got the last of it."

"Sonic!!" She snorted it off and shook her head. "I'll go ahead and make some more, then." She put a pot of water on the stove, then headed down the hall to check on their daughter Misty, who had opted to eat in her room. Sonic glanced over his shoulder in that direction before continuing in a slightly lower voice.

"See, what you went through, it's not just that girl. The whole tanuki culture is like that! They're kinda like echidnas, with their own community and customs and all that, only theirs revolves around sex."

"Well thanks a lot for telling me!" I mock balked, to his amusement.

"You'd already made a date, so I figured I'd just let ya see for yourself. Shadow, though, I tried to warn him!"

"He's wanting to go out with her too?"

"Actually I think that girl you went out with is tryin' to set him up with her sister."

"What'd he say when you told him?"

"The usual gloomy crap." He took to imitating Shadow's voice, though adding an extra element of dorkiness. "_It doesn't matter._" I broke into laughter while he paused to rub his chin. "Then again, Shadow does seem to have a thing for easy girls."

He jumped as Amy's voice cut in from the hall. "What's that supposed to mean?!" She thundered into sight looking ready to brew blood instead of tea.

"I-I was just…kiddin' around…!" Sonic stammered, spinning to face his furious wife. Her teeth clenched until they threatened to crack.

"UGH, I have had it with you!!" She stormed off downstairs with him close behind, trying to plead his case. Sitting in awkward solitude, I watched as little Misty emerged from her room and peered quietly down the steps. She then turned and glanced at me for a moment before returning to her room. I got up and made my way into the kitchen, turning the active stove burner down to low.

As I stood there sighing, my thoughts returned to Cedar. Why, I wondered, did I always think of her now instead of Maple? What was it she represented to me? As I pondered it, it began to dawn on me just what about the whole situation had been bothering me all this time. In taking Shadow's son that day, I had started the chain of events that had led to Maple's death. A piece had been stripped from the puzzle of life, and my heart ached to replace it. Somehow, I knew, Cedar was the key to this. But how could I get her to fit the void left by her sister? Only one solution came to mind….


	3. Rouge's Revenge

Chapter 3 – Rouge's Revenge

"This…is what you've been working on for over three years?!"

My question echoed up from the so-called project that, until now, Knuckles had refused to show me. Ever since he started work on it I'd found him wearing a coat of dirt almost every time I'd come to visit, and when I would prod him about it, he'd tell me it was a secret and change the subject. Now that it was finally complete and he no longer had excuses to ward off my demands, he took me a short distance from the Master Emerald's shrine to its location. I'd never been so disappointed.

"Pretty elaborate, huh?" he related with a half-hearted laugh. Surely he had to be joking. It looked like a crude gazebo built out of dirt and lined with pebbles.

"What's it supposed to be?" I turned to him with no attempt to hide my repulsion. He fidgeted with the spikes on his hands for a second before answering.

"It's a………a nest." His voice was low and particularly deep, the way it got when he was bummed out about something. I hated when he got like that.

"A what?"

"A nest."

I blinked and took on a lop-sided grimace. "For what??"

"……Eggs." In the silence of my disbelieving gape, his eyes darted over toward me for a second before returning to his creation.

"Knuckles," I rattled finally, "bats don't lay eggs!" He only lowered his head at that, growing all the more distraught, and that's when I started to get a really bad inkling in my gut. "…Are you seeing someone else?!"

"No!" he assured me quickly, finally looking me in the eye. "I built it to keep the Brotherhood off my back. They've been bugging me about taking a mate…so I told them I was going to make a nest first…to stall 'em. That's why I dragged it out over the last few years…."

"But…why did you want to stall…?"

"Because…" he trailed off and his head dropped again, "…as a Guardian…it's…my duty to……carry on the echidna heritage…."

I stood there frozen, staring. In pairings of mixed species, the children always come out the type of the mother…which put me out of his equation. Suddenly the nature of our off-and-on eight-year relationship made perfect sense. His reluctance, his schedule, our arguments, his secrets…he'd known this day would come all along. A vortex of hurt, fear, and animosity began to spawn inside of me.

"So that's it?!" I spat. "You're just gonna cast me aside?!"

"It's not what I want," he insisted, daring not look up again. "I have no choice. I-"

"They can't tell you how to live your life! It's not going to be the end of the world to have a little variety in the mix! What's wrong with a bat guardian?!"

He turned away, sighing loudly. "You're not making this any easier!" His hand ran down his head and curled around a few of his spines. "…I'm sorry, Rouge…I really am...."

"Sorry…." I echoed, my fists squeezing tight. "You _are_ sorry—a sorry coward who can't even stick up for what he wants!! I don't wanna waste my time with someone like you anyway!" He turned around just in time to see me thrust off into the sky. I heard him shouting my name behind me, but I didn't even look back.

The next several hours I spent in a tree far from civilization, crying my eyes out. My head hurt and I could hardly breathe and my makeup was a runny mess; it was hard to believe that just a while ago my life had been near perfect. I berated myself for not having seen it coming. He tended to put up a tough front, but he'd always been weak. But then, that's precisely why we'd gone so well together...I could make the tough decisions for him. Ironic that it turned out to be what came between us.

Struggling to sort the overflow of ricocheting thoughts, my mind sought a definitive means of turning the tide back in my favor. What would make that bumbling blockhead see the error of his ways? Going to the Brotherhood didn't seem plausible; if anything those stupid snoots would probably just make matters worse. No, what Knuckles needed was a good, old-fashioned dose of jealousy…and I knew just who to turn to.

Commander Curoe greeted me with an irritable sigh as I entered his office at GUN Headquarters the next morning. I suppose he expected me to knock…but hey, when you're easily the best agent GUN's got, there's bound some to be some privileges included. "This a bad time?" I opened with a smile.

"What can I do for you, Rouge?"

I took a seat in one of the chairs facing his desk and crossed my legs with casual grace. "I've a little favor to ask of you, of a business nature." His expression stayed rock solid.

"And what would that be?"

"Just some surveillance data, or access to it, rather."

"For what purpose?"

"Well," my tone skirted, "if you must know…I believe Shadow may be in danger of assassination, so I would like to determine his whereabouts." A smirk formed on my lips as I watched the commander's gaze drop to his desk. Mentioning that name always sent him to a far-off place. I silently counted down to the moment of his return. _Five…four…three…two…one…._

"I'll notify Comms to give you temporary clearance."

I returned a genial nod. "Thank you, Commander."

An hour later I was on my way to the Diamond Mill Mall, making a point of keeping my focus on anything but Knucklehead. He may have been the reason I was doing this, but that didn't mean I had to think about him in the meantime. Instead I reminisced about my past adventures with Shadow—the whole ARK fiasco, our quest for Eggman's secret treasure, saving the world from aliens, and most fondly, our time in Soleanna. Seemed like he was always there just when I needed him most; it was no wonder Knuckles had long held a sense of jealousy toward him. He'd even inquired on more than occasion just how "close" Shadow and I had been. I grinned as my mind relived our brief stay in the old castle town.

"Panino?" I extended the paper-wrapped sandwich in front of the dark hedgehog as he sat with his chin propped on his fist at the café table, and after a moment he opened his eyes.

"…Thought you went to get a cake."

"I did, but they're selling faster than they can make 'em and the line's a mile long." Unfortunately, the single serving lava cake was one of Soleanna's more popular desserts—too popular for my patience, it turned out. I pouted at the craving for chocolate that would go yet unfulfilled.

"So you're not having anything?" he asked as he accepted the sandwich and unwrapped it. I shrugged a bit and took a seat across from him.

"I'm more sleepy than hungry, really." Looking him over, I could tell he was pretty fatigued too. We'd come a long way through some pretty treacherous conditions at Eggman's base. "When you're done with that, let's go find a hotel." He paused in mid-bite to leer up at me. "We may as well," I pressed, "what with the rendezvous not being 'til tomorrow, and G-U-N's paying for it besides." I hated pronouncing each letter like that, but the higher ups wanted everyone saying it that way, as if people wouldn't be able to tell what it spelled out or something.

He was back at his panino, taking care to swallow before responding. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" I could only grin at that.

"No sense in making a chore of it."

The keeper of the inn spoke with a heavy Italian accent. "One room left, 100 Euros."

I glanced over my shoulder at Shadow. "You don't mind sharing, do you?" He stood with his arms crossed, staring down the corridor with a mute scowl. "…Shadow?"

"One's sufficient," he snapped. He carried my backpack the rest of the way to our room, then waited in front of the door glaring in my direction as I lingered in the corridor for a better look at a peculiar oil painting hanging there.

"…Coming." I hastened to the door, a bit surprised he hadn't started griping at me. Reaching for the doorknob, I paused upon noting its antique and even deteriorated condition.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing…sheesh, you're so paranoid." As I pushed the door open and we both peered inside, I felt a wave of relief that the room itself was much more modern. Aside from a king-sized bed, there was a stand with a TV, a small table, a couple of thin chairs, and a reclining easy chair. Thank the High One for franchise consistency. "...Where's the bathroom?"

He glanced the way we'd come. "I saw one down there."

"You mean I have to _share_??"

He said nothing as he strode into the room, setting my backpack on the bed. From there he headed straight to the window and brushed the drapes aside. I sighed and moped up to the bag. "Hmm…I wonder if this place has Wi-Fi," I mumbled as I fished my notebook PC out. With a test run at the nearby table, I was pleased to discover that there actually was a signal. I sat back and surfed some sites while Shadow wandered back across the room and switched on the TV. That didn't last long.

"Be nice if one of the channels was in English," he griped as he turned it back off. He rolled over on the end of the bed and lay with his face buried in the comforter. In the increasingly awkward silence that followed, I decided to log in to my Pandora Internet radio account. Soon the room was filled with electro-techno vibes while I continued to surf.

"_Kinetic_," a deep voice repeated every so often throughout the song, being its only lyric. "_Kinetic_."

"Hey, Shadow," I spoke up after a few minutes, "what's your favorite color?"

He slowly lifted his head. "…I don't really have one…."

"Well, what's a color you like? Red?"

"No." Zero hesitation there.

"Black? Blue? Green?"

"Why are you asking me this?"

"I'm taking an online quiz. I wanna see what kind of emo you are." I glanced over to find him eyeing me in repulsed disbelief. "Come on, it's just for fun!"

His face dropped back to the bed, facing away from me this time. "Just put green."

"Okay." I proceeded to the next question. "When a stranger approaches you and asks you what time it is, how do you react? A, give him the time; B, ignore him; C, ask him who wants to know; or D, clock him in the face?" A giggle slipped out. "I can answer this one myself!" Several questions later I clicked the Submit button, and then the results came up, to a great deal more of my laughter. "You're a sexy beast!!" I leaned over the side of my chair laughing. He just shook his head.

Finally it was time for bed, and after returning from the wretched shared bathroom I found Shadow curled up on the easy chair with a pillow thrown over the armrest. "…Aren't you going to use the bed?"

One eye opened. "Aren't _you_ going to use it?"

"Well, yeah, but…it's a large bed," I pointed out as I slipped under the sheets, "and I don't bite." My eyes shifted aside and a fang-bearing grin spread. "Usually." He was unamused, of course, so I went on, "Seriously, I'll feel bad if you spend all night on that. We can share the bed. I trust you." He remained where he was, but I decided not to push it any further. If he wanted to wake up with a backache, so be it. I lay down and closed my eyes. "..Oh, could you get the light?" I heard the chair squeak as he climbed out of it, and seconds later, the room plunged into darkness. I was about to thank him when his pillow suddenly landed across from mine, making me jump. "..Sexy beast joining me after all?"

"Stop calling me that," he answered irritably. I returned a mischievous giggle.

"Why not? I think it was right on. If I were you I'd consider it a compliment!" He didn't say anything else as he climbed into bed and got himself settled in. I glanced to the shadow that was Shadow over my shoulder and addressed him with an extra dash of sugar. "Good night."

"Good night."

It was stiflingly silent after that. We both lay motionless in the blackness, not even our breaths making a sound…until he blurted out a single word. "Kinetic."

I broke out laughing and turned over. "That song stuck in your head too?"

"Yeah." There was even a hint of a chuckle in his voice. Getting him in a good mood was a lot of work, but it always gratified me to hear him laugh…such a rare treat. We chatted a bit more after that until we dozed off, or at least I did.

When I woke up the next morning, there was enough light streaming between the drapes that I could plainly see him peering at me from his side. "…What time is it?" I asked as I stretched.

"Six forty-five."

"Mm." That was a bit earlier than I cared to hear. "You sleep well?"

"Well enough. When will you be ready to go?"

"Ugh, I think I'd like to try to get another hour in at least." I cracked a smile as I closed my eyes, pulled in my knees, and drew the comforter up to my chin. "No substitute for the benefits of beauty rest."

"Hmph. This coming from a woman who can't live without makeup and a silicone chest."

My eyelids instantly snapped back apart. "_EXCUSE ME?!?_" In the past I'd found he had a tendency to be more outspoken in the mornings, but I couldn't believe what had just come out of his mouth. I sat up and pointed a finger at the generous mounds under my nightgown. "For your information these are real!!" In my incoherent fury I grabbed his hand and slapped it right on top of my left breast. "Does that feel like silicone to you?!" It wasn't until I noticed the well expanded whites of his eyes that it dawned on me that he'd probably never touched a girl there before, and I found myself frozen in anticipation of his reaction. Contracting into a gentle grip, he took on a contemplative visage as his thumb swept up the curve and across my nipple. My surprise quickly melted into a much more agreeable sentiment. Our eyes met in the next moment…and then he snorted into a fit of laughter. I stared, speechless, as he rolled onto his back and threw his arm over his eyes, still laughing. At that point even I had to laugh. Nice to know I'd put him in a good mood again.

My nostalgic smile grew into a predatory one as I set my eyes on the Diamond Mill Mall. Sounded like my kinda mall. My first objective was to stake out the place; according to the surveillance records, he wouldn't be arriving until after dark, so there was plenty of time. I strolled in and, posing as an ordinary voluptuous shopper, got to know every corner of the structure while taking advantage of some hot deals. Then I dropped by the food court and devoured a carton of beef fried rice, followed by a couple of iced sugar cookies from Blue Chip. Finally I began to search the premises for a location from which to conduct my lookout. Just under the skylights that overlooked the center stage area were some roomy ledges, so I flew up and perched myself there.

Little did I know that I'd only have to wait a couple of hours before something of interest came along. My first glance resulted in a double take to the likes of Sonic the hedgehog, walking straight into the Kay's jewelry store. It seemed strange that he of all people would take an interest in any kind of gem besides a Chaos Emerald, so I leaned forward for a better look—and sure enough, I found his attention not on the merchandise but on the lovely yellow hedgehog behind the counter. Amy, I likewise noted, was nowhere to be found; I had a feeling she was home taking care of their kid while he flirted with this potential piece of ass. He was obviously just another one of those miserable jerks who treated their women like trash...only this time he wouldn't be getting away with it. I reached into my backpack and carefully removed my digital camera, then set to work snapping shots of the incriminating evidence. Meanwhile I began to muse again about Amy. She'd hurt Shadow, yes, but I suspected at this point that Sonic had a great deal to do with that. It was definitely time to give that cocky blue bastard a taste of his own medicine.

Another bastard needed punishing first, however.

The stars were just beginning to dot the evening sky like little diamonds as I laid back on my lookout ledge, snacking on potato chips and fresh cherries from my bag. Every few minutes I glanced down, until at last I spotted the hedgehog I'd come to see. He'd just passed the jewelry store on his way toward the east end when a tanuki girl tending an island shop called The Nuthouse trotted over to him. Considering the trampy nature of their kind, I figured he'd appreciate an interruption. I slung my bag over one shoulder and leapt from the ledge, gliding down to their level. Neither had noticed me yet as I sauntered toward them, and I heard a little of what the girl had to say.

"I've been doing some thinking," she told him, "and I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go out with my sister sometime. She's a single parent just like you, and her daughter is the same age as your son. I'll introduce you to her next time she's here, 'kay? I think you'd get along good; she's kinda emo like you too…no offense!"

"Well!" I spoke up from behind him. "Long time no see!" He turned quickly, and his eyes widened for a moment, the way they tended to do when his mind spiked a concept. "Got a minute to spare?"

The tanuki leaned aside and peered at me with an uneven brow. "Um, excuse me, we were talking." I looked her up and down with a droll simper.

"Shouldn't you be getting back to The Nuthouse?" I curled my fingers around Shadow's arm and pulled lightly while she gaped. He took a step my way but glanced back at her.

"I'll be back."

Once I'd taken him to a quiet corner of the mall, he stood with his head down and arms folded while I stated my business. "I have a favor to ask of you. I need a Mobian to accompany me on a surveillance mission next week, and I'd like you to come."

"Why me?" His contentious eyes lifted to mine, and I returned a subtle smile.

"I need someone who's sharp, perceptive, ready to take on the worst case scenario. Who's a better fit than the ultimate life form?" A little flattery never hurt.

"When?"

"It's flexible; any day next week should do, but it needs to go down at dusk."

He brushed past me and continued walking. "I don't want this becoming a habit." I hurried after until I matched pace behind him.

"It won't…but will you help me out this once? I'll be sure to make it worth your while…." After a few seconds he stopped, and I waited there anxiously.

"…I'll be in touch," he finally replied, to my endearing nod.

"I knew I could count on you." I watched him stride off in the direction opposite of that from which we'd come, then went my own way. After a quick sneer at the gray tanuki and a quick smirk at the yellow hedgehog, I retrieved my shopping bags from the skylight ledge and headed out of the mall.

Next stop, Amy's cake shop.


	4. Amy's Doubts

Chapter 4 – Amy's Doubts

Weird. There was definitely something weird going on. First Sonic starts telling me how much he cares about me when he hasn't done that in, like, well, practically ever…and then I walk into my Create-a-Cake shop one morning and find the office light on when I _know_ I'd turned it off the night before. A couple of my employees had keys to the place, but none were due in for a few hours, so it kind of creeped me out.

"Lydia?" I called, thinking that perhaps one of them had come in early for some reason. Getting no answer, I flipped on some more lights and continued nervously into the office. No one was there, and nothing seemed out of place--except that there was a single sheet of paper in the laser printer's output tray. I walked over and plucked it out.

It was a picture, a photo…that looked like it had been taken from inside the cake storage room, of nothing in particular. I made my way to the back of the shop and peeked into that room, but nothing seemed amiss there either. Strange as it was, I didn't have time to dwell on it; there was a lot of work to do.

Lydia the lynx came in a few hours later, but by then things were really busy. I barely had time to manage a quick question as we crossed paths on our way to the counter and back. "Hey, did you happen to come in last night after closing or earlier this morning?"

"No," she answered in her distinctive tribal accent, "why?"

"Someone came in here after I closed…uh, I'll tell you about it later." The full sheet graduation butter pecan with hazelnut frosting in my hands was growing heavier by the second, so I hurried with it to the front counter. That was the last we spoke of the odd matter until it came time to close again.

"Hmm…" she mused after I described what I'd arrived to find, "maybe it was dat weasel Shinelich. He is always forgetting deh things an' he has tuh come back, you know?"

"Maybe…." Considering it as I swept the floor, I decided that he had done weirder things in the months since I'd hired him, after all. "Yeah, you're probably right." I figured I'd send him a text message after closing, just to be sure. The incident was all but out of my head as I went to tidy up in the storage room. I closed the door to sweep behind it and froze as I discovered another laser printed photograph taped to its backside. This one was a snapshot of the cabinets under the shop's bathroom sink. I peeled the paper off and was studying it with growing perplexity or whatever you call it when Lydia called from the front.

"Ms. Amy, are you ready? We bedder hurry if we are tuh beat deh storms, yeah?"

"…Okay…be done in just a sec!" I stuck the paper back to the door and continued cleaning. Whatever this was and what it was all about, I didn't have time to mess with it.

Lydia joined me for a quick supper at McDonald's after we left the shop, mainly so she could tell me about her recent first date with Shadow. As badly as I wanted to know how it went, I was a little bit afraid to ask, to be honest. I'd lost count of how many times I'd set Shadow up with a nice girl, but he didn't seem to like any of them, and a lot of them didn't find him so likeable either. They all more or less told me that they had a really hard time understanding him, reading him, figuring him out…and some found him downright creepy. That's why I'd decided to try setting him up with Lydia this time. Ever since we first met I'd found her to be _very_ good at reading others; she always seemed to know just what I was thinking or feeling and even knew to let me alone during the times I didn't feel like talking. Perhaps, I thought, she might be just the kind of companion Shadow needed.

"Deh date was preddy short," she started out after downing a couple of her chicken nuggets. "He is an interesting one tuh talk tuh, vedy much on guard, does not like change. I spoke on some dhings from his life, asked him about you."

"Really??" In my spike of interest I kind of jerked my sandwich down, and glob of McRib sauce dropped from it onto the edge of its box and part of the table. Lydia reached across with her napkin and began to wipe it up for me. I practically grabbed it from her hand, urging her to forget the mess and go on. "What did he say?"

"Mmm, his walls, dhey got about ten feet thicker. He would not say much, an' it was hard for me tuh, mmm, see past dhat exactly what he was feeling about dhat time."

"Wow, if _you_ were having a hard time it must have been bad!"

She chuckled a bit. "Aha ha ha, it is just what I like tuh do! I had tuh, mmm, concentrate vedy hard, really focus, tuh pick out what were dhose dhings he really liked, and what was just somedhing tuh say, yeah? He dalk about everydhing very much deh same way." I wasn't sure what to ask as she paused to chew her fries, but she quickly saved me the trouble. "I dhink it is his son dhat he loves most, more dhan anydhing else."

A bittersweet warmth rose inside of me. "…Well, what do you think? Are you guys gonna go out again?" Again she chuckled.

"Aha ha ha! I dhink he found in me very liddle interest. His words, dhey come out only tuh be polite, yeah?"

"Ohh…." I sighed at the thought of yet another hope trounced, but the sentiment was cut short by a startling clap of thunder. "Whoa, looks like the storm's almost here!" We both hurried to finish our meals and bid each other goodbye, then I dashed to the counter for one more order, to go.

A short while later, I'd barely set foot in the front door of the house when the takeout sack was snatched from my hand from below.

"Woo hoo, finally!" Iris exclaimed, then raced to beat Sonic to the kitchen. As father and daughter dove into their Mickey D's, I wandered past them to the sink and peered through the window at angry clouds thundering outside. All I could really see, though, were the thoughts of the past clouding my world within.

No excuses. I knew what I did was wrong. What had started out as a simple summer vacation had ended with me mated to Shadow, but for all the wrong reasons. Call it a moment of vulnerability or whatever, but the fact was that I gave myself to one man while my heart was yet with another. My biggest mistake, though, came after that; I left him without so much as a word. Bad circumstances or not, he didn't deserve that…and we all ended up paying for it. Perhaps everyone had had their share of mistakes in the matter, but at this point, I really only blamed myself.

Letting Shadow keep Mercury had been, in a sense, my way of making it up to him…and while I didn't want to think of it as yet another mistake, there were undeniable regrets…like the three years I didn't get to spend with my baby, and the fact that the majority of his life he lacked the constant presence of a mother figure. Even now, aside from special occasions, I saw him twice a week at best. But then, considering how things could've turned out, I supposed to myself that I should be grateful for at least that much. Until Shadow settled down with a new girl, however, someone decent and fitful to be Mercury's new mother, I would never feel at ease about things. But who? Who was truly the right one for him?

"Hannah Montana!!"

I turned around, blinking, to see my daughter at the table holding up the toy from her Happy Meal. Sonic groaned at it.

"Aww, Amy, you were supposed to get her the Transformers one!"

"Nuh uh," Iris differed, "I like this one better!" Her words met an exaggerated expression of shock and repulsion on Sonic's face, and she giggled. Aw, she was so cute. Poor Sonic, he was already losing his tomboy to the girly things she was growing into…yet another regret for me, having failed to give him a son of his own.

I was still feeling sorry for my poor husband through the next couple of days, until Sunday, when Tails came over for a visit. Since the cake shop was closed on weekends, I was home to make some sandwiches for the boys while they chatted. It wasn't long before Sonic had hogged down most of the tea, so I set about brewing a fresh pitcher. I dropped in on Iris while waiting on the water to boil, and there she was, switching back and forth from video games to online chatting while her food sat on the plate hardly touched.

"Iris? Honey, your bread's gonna get all dried out."

"Yeah yeah, I'll get to it," was all she had to say as she continued to type. I paused to pick up some dirty laundry off the floor and drop it in her hamper a few steps away.

"Don't forget," I urged her as I made my way out. I was near the end of the hall, about to go back in the kitchen, when a comment caught my ear from Sonic.

"Then again, Shadow does seem to have a thing for easy girls."

Ohh, my quills were searing. Considering that Shadow hadn't had any other mates since me, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out just who he meant…and in front of Tails this time!!

"What's that supposed to mean?!" I demanded as I stomped back into the room. He jumped in his chair and tried to play it off.

"I-I was just…kiddin' around…!"

That wasn't about to excuse it. I stood there for a moment with a hundred different ways to curse him out running through my mind, but I didn't want to make Tails any more uncomfortable than he already was. Nevertheless, something came out as I spun around and marched off.

"UGH, I have had it with you!!!" I retreated downstairs lest the rest of my rage explode. It wasn't long before he was right behind me, still spouting the joke excuse. Didn't he get it?! It didn't matter whether he was joking! It was still an insult, and it still hurt! I kept up my furious pace through Iris' playroom, to the back wall. With nowhere else to go, I dropped down into her Pokemon beanbag chair, and broke out into tears. "Is that all I am to you?!"

"Amy..!"

"After all these years, you'd think you could finally let it go, but no! You're never gonna let me live it down!!" I wasn't sure if he could understand what I was saying through all the sobbing at this point, but I didn't care. He got the point. "What is it going to ta-ake?" The rest of my grief soaked into Pikachu as I buried my face into his cherry red cheeks.

Sonic was quiet behind me now. After I heaved a few moments longer, he stepped over and crouched beside me, speaking softly.

"Amy…I'm sorry. I…you're right. It was out of line." He tried to put a hand on my shoulder, but I quickly slapped it away. There was no way he was getting off that easily. Saying nothing more, he stood and took off, back upstairs. Wow, what an apology. I turned aside and continued to lie there, alone, suddenly wondering to myself why I didn't just stick with Shadow. He never would have treated me this way. I didn't get to ponder it much further, though, before the rapid footsteps told me Sonic was on his way back down. I just buried my face in the beanbag again. "Amy," he started back up, "umm, I…was saving this for our anniversary, but I want you to have it now…."

It sure wasn't what I expected to hear. I was too curious not to look. Slowly, wearing a mixture of anger and defiance on my face, I turned to see just what he was offering…and all at once I couldn't breathe.

There they were, seven little diamonds, like baby Chaos Emeralds, smiling brightly at me from their golden home.

He went on. "And…I want you to know that I promise I'll never bring that deal with Shadow up again." He waited quietly for a response from me, but all I could do was continue to gawk at the ring. It wasn't the fact that it was such a gorgeous, expensive gift that had me so dumbstruck with awe. It was the fact that he'd gotten it for me despite the fact that I'd stopped asking him years ago…and everything it represented. My motion was stiff with residue anger as I took it into my hands, many more feelings now welling within. I clipped a breath, then another, my mouth widening to speak…but all I managed to do was break into tears again. Sonic looked a bit confused. "…Do you like it?" I nodded and held it close to me as I leaned into him. His embrace followed, the never failing source of comfort. He rested his chin on my shoulder with a soft sigh. "I'm sorry…."

Ever the polite guest, Tails was still upstairs when we finally made our way back up there. I felt guilty for putting him in such an awkward position.

"I'm so sorry I blew up in front of you like that," I started to tell him, but he wouldn't have it.

"No no, you're fine, really," he assured me with an upright hand. "It wouldn't be normal if you guys got along a hundred percent of the time." He then pushed himself up from his seat and nodded to me kindly. "Thank you very much for the great lunch!"

My apologetic smile sank into a pout. You're not leaving already, are you? The tea! I still need to make some more tea!"

"Oh no, don't worry about it."

"No, please, I insist! I'll feel bad if you go away on such a bad note! Please stay a little longer."

He lowered his head with a shy smile. "Well…okay, if it's really no trouble…."

"Of course not!" I prompted him to sit back down, then jogged into the kitchen to find the water simmering. I had a full pitcher back on the table in less than a minute. As I refilled their glasses and added a few cubes of ice, Sonic reseated himself, upbeat but quiet. I took it upon myself to break the silence. "So what else has been going on in your life, Tails?"

"Uhh, well, for the most part it's been the same old, same old, still messing around with that engine prototype and all, but uh, there was something else that kinda came up…." His brow took a pretty solemn dive, which left me a little concerned.

"What happened?"

"I, uh, ran into this girl, a mouse named Cedar, and it turns out she's related to Maple the possum." When he glanced up at us, I'm sure my face had to be as stunned as Sonic's. He was quick to go on. "She's nice and everything, but, um, she says she wants to meet Shadow."

"You _told_ her?!" I shrieked. His ears went flat.

"I couldn't not tell her!"

Even Sonic was leaning in. "Why does she wanna meet Shadow?"

"Closure, I guess," Tails replied with a shrug. "And, uh, this might sound kind of silly, but…I was thinking of perhaps trying to get her and Shadow together." That was all he got out before Sonic was making a big T in front of him with his hands.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Seein' how the last one turned out, do ya really wanna go there??"

"She's not like Maple!" Tails protested, but I had to side with Sonic on this one.

"Well, we didn't think that Maple was like Maple, until it was almost too late!" I glanced over as Sonic started to add something to that, but for once he stopped himself. The poor fox sank back in his chair.

"I know…but please trust me on this! I mean, I practically ruined Shadow's life, so the least I can do is try to help fix it!"

I slapped my hand on the table. "You did no such thing!"

"Even if that's the case, Amy," he slowly said to me, "I'll never stop feeling that way."

The words struck a chord within my own guilty conscience. Maybe…maybe he was right. What he was doing wasn't all that different from what I'd been trying to do for months.

"…Well," I finally answered, "maybe it'd be a good idea if you and I talked with her first. And if she does meet Shadow, I don't want her anywhere near Mercury."

"Fair enough," Tails agreed with an eager nod. "I'll ask her the next chance I get."

Once our guest had excused himself, things pretty much went back to business as usual. Neither Sonic nor I brought up the subject again, though if he was anything like me it had to be on his mind at least a little. That awful experience in Maple's garden replayed through my subconscious off and on the rest of the day, and I even dreamed of her that night. By the time I got to the cake shop the next morning I'd managed to shift my focus back onto the day's work ahead…but that didn't last long.

I slipped on something when I headed into the storage room, and three aluminum pans dropped from my hands as I threw my arms out to catch myself. They were all empty, thankfully, but they made a terrible racket that echoed through the entire place. I was still muttering under my breath about the headache I was gonna have all day when I knelt to retrieve the pans--and found myself staring into that photo of the bathroom sink again. The tape had failed and allowed it to slip off the door.

"Forgot all about this," I mumbled aloud, clamping the sheet between two fingers just before gathering the scattered pans. That Shinelich, he never did respond to my text message. After finishing my business in the storage room, I headed back into the office, where the first printout remained. Looking it over again, it became clear to me this time that the snapshot had been of something in particular after all: the door. It was a clue to check the door. Surely, then, the second shot was also a clue! I scurried to the bathroom with rapidly growing interest, and I flung the sink's cabinets wide open. Aside from a plunger, some various chemicals, and a few rolls of toilet paper, though, there didn't seem to be anything to see. I crouched and nudged a few things around, sighing. Then, for some reason, I thought to look up under the sink, and sure enough, another piece of paper was taped to the bottom of the basin. One of the corners ripped off as I tugged it free.

The third clue was yet another laser printed photo, which directed me to yet another location within the shop. Again I sought it out, and again I was rewarded with another picture. Whoever had been responsible for this little game had gone to a lot of trouble, and to be honest, it was a lot of fun! I spent the rest of the workday photo hunting when I wasn't too busy baking and decorating and taking orders, and Lydia even helped with a few. Some were more difficult and had me stumped for hours. Finally, as closing time neared, I found what would be the final piece. A document-size manila envelope had been hidden underneath the cash register, and inside was the strangest picture of all.

"What's this?" Sonic asked when I handed the envelope to him that night.

"You tell me." I plopped down on the couch next to him and stretched. "Somebody left it for me at my shop."

His expression morphed into puzzled curiosity when he slid out a strangely overhead snapshot of himself talking with a yellow hedgehog across a counter. "This is…the place where I got your ring…."

"Look what it says on the back."

Flipping it over, he read a brief comment in cursive ink:

_Thought you should know what he's been up to._

"Huh…. Who left this?" He turned it back over and studied the front again.

"I don't know. I just found it there today." After we both stared at it a bit longer, he suddenly broke into laughter.

"You think it's the paparazzi?"

Even I had to laugh at the thought of that. "I don't know, it's weird! It's like someone was trying to clue me in that you were getting me the ring…but who?"

"Whoever it was, they're too late! Heh heh heh!"

Looking back on it now, I guess I was kind of naïve about the intentions behind the exposure, but hey, I'd worn out all my brain cells just trying to find the dang thing! It was a few days later, on my way home again, that I actually encountered Rouge the bat. She was sitting in the branches of a tree barely strong enough to support her weight, one leg leisurely crossed over the other. I glanced her direction and couldn't help but notice that she was directly eyeing me.

"…Hi, Rouge," I greeted simply, making a point of not slanting my tone one way or another. I was never quite sure what to make of her.

She stared for a second longer before answering. "…You're in a good mood." Before I could respond to that, she went on, "I don't suppose you've found the information I left."

"Information…? You mean the pictures?" She returned an eye rolling nod. "Um, yeah, I found them, but…I'm not sure I understand what you were wanting to show me…." That, and why the heck she broke into my cake shop to do it.

"I just thought you'd appreciate being informed of your _husband's_ infidelity."

"Oh, i-it's not like that," I stammered, having been caught a bit off guard. "He just went to that store to get me a ring for our anniversary! See?" The seven diamonds twinkled their hellos to Rouge as I held my hand up. Her eyes grew wide, and within seconds she was on the ground and coming over for a better look.

"……Well, well," she finally remarked after pulling my hand into careful inspection. "It's even worse than I thought."

"What?!" I gasped. "It's gorgeous!"

"The _ring_ is fine. It's excellent. But that's just the problem."

By now I was practically covering it with my other hand, as if it needed protection. "What do you mean?"

"Doesn't it seem the least bit peculiar to you that he's gotten this for you now, all of a sudden, all these years after you actually got married?"

"It wasn't really all of a sudden…I mean, he told me that he felt like he didn't let me know how much he cared enough."

"Sounds more like a classic case of a guilty conscience to me," she countered, now pacing around me like a predator. "The guy goes out, finds an easy mark, takes it, then feels rotten about the rotten thing he's done and gets his real girl a gift to paint himself as the loving, dedicated mate he's not." She came to a stop in front of me and turned with a sneering smirk. "Surely you're not that gullible." The smirk spread a bit when she saw me blinking, staring, at a gaping-lipped loss for words. "I know it's not the kind of thing you want to hear, but we girls have got to look out for each other, you know? Anyway, I've got things to do, so…see ya."

Rouge flapped her wings, and just as quickly as she'd turned my world upside down, she was gone.

I peered down at my ring. It still twinkled so sweetly, so bright and pure…but I knew I'd never be able to look at it again without wondering…without those doubts overshadowing every facet's sparkle. Whatever the truth was, I had to know for sure.

Rather than wait all week for my next day off, I decided to begin my quest for truth over an extended lunch the next afternoon. I ran home first for a quick shower, though, to ensure my identity didn't precede me. Sonic found that a little odd, but I just told him I had to meet with an important lady and wanted to be extra fresh and clean—which was true, actually. Afterward, when I went to grab Rouge's photograph, I found that he'd thrown it in the trash. Hm. I dug it out when he wasn't looking and was on my way.

My heart was pounding as I walked in a growing daze toward Kay's Jewelers. What was I going to say? As I rounded the corner and the store came into sight, I suddenly caught the heavenly aroma of fresh baked cinnamon rolls, a very welcome and much needed comfort. To my disappointment, though, the scent turned out to be coming from a kiosk shop selling flavored nuts rather than fluffy pastries. Still, I stood near it and inhaled deeply while working up the nerve to approach the lady at the jeweler just steps away.

Another girl's voice asked from beside me, "Would you like to try a sample of cinnamon almonds, ma'am?" I turned to see an ash gray tanuki offering a tray with several tiny paper cups. Whoa, was this the girl that Tails had gone out with? As rare as it was to see their kind in this area, she more than likely was the same one. I thanked her and gently removed one of the cups. There were three almonds inside, and while I wasn't a big fan of dry nuts, they smelled delicious. I went ahead and popped one in my mouth.

_O. M. G._

It was all I could do to keep tears from spilling out. I practically swallowed it whole just to get the cinnamon hell off my tongue. No wonder that place was called The Nuthouse!! But, I found, it had been just what I'd needed; it hit me at that point that I, too, needed to be strong, to just go in there and do my thing. So I did.

"Excuse me," I began as I reached the counter. The yellow hedgehog was bent over straightening out some necklaces, but she quickly righted herself and smiled at me.

"Hi there! What can I do for you?"

Now that I was seeing her up close, I realized that she was much prettier than she'd seemed in the photo. My heart started going up my throat again.

"Umm…I was just wondering…if you remember seeing this hedgehog…." I quickly pulled the picture from its now grease-stained envelope and handed it to her. As she looked it over, her brow pursed in a mixture of surprise and concern. She glanced back up at me briefly before speaking.

"Well yes…this man comes in here almost every day." She blinked at me and the aghast gape now frozen on my face. "Why do you ask?"

I forced a breath, remembering cinnamon hell. "I'm his wife, and I was told that he had been coming here for some reason…."

"Ohh, his wife! Of course, I recognize your ring now that you mention it. He's told me all about you!"

"He, he has…?"

"Mm hm, he tells me how sweet and lovely you are and how you work all day and still do so much more when you get home." I didn't think my eyes could get any wider, but they were. She went on, "I think he first started coming here because he was concerned about an incident between me and my own…guy, back when he came and bought your ring. He's been dropping by to chat ever since."

My expression probably hadn't changed all that much, but the feelings behind it were now astronomically different. "Oh…."

"Where did that picture come from?" The lady stepped out from behind the counter and began to make her way out of the store. I grabbed the photo and followed her out.

"I got it from someone I know." We stopped just beyond the storefront, where she stood gazing up towards the skylight, shielding her eyes from the midday sun with a dainty hand.

"Based on the angle it was taken," she noted, "it looks like whoever took it had to be way up there."

"Oh yeah, the one who took the picture is a bat." I stared at the ledge myself for a few moments longer, then turned to her. "Hey, I'm sorry for bothering you with all this. I was just wanting to get it all cleared up."

"It's all right," she assured me with a warm smile. "I'm sure if I were in your shoes I'd have done the same."

I thanked her for being so understanding and turned to be on my way when I then found myself face to face with the tanuki from the nearby kiosk. She looked almost angry.

"'Scuse me, did I just hear you right? Did you say there was a bat taking pictures?"

"Uh, yeah," I replied, taking a step back. She leaned in, squinting.

"White fur, boobs hanging out all over the place?"

A nervous clip of a laugh slipped out. "That's the one."

She snorted and snatched the photo right out of my hand. "I knew it!" There was a brief silence after that. "…What am I looking at?"

"Well," I started reluctantly, "the bat thought my guy was cheating on me, but it was just a misunderstanding."

"Really, Trixie," the other hedgehog sighed, "we should be getting back to work…."

Something else had come to mind as the picture was handed back to me. "I wonder, though, what she was doing here in the first place." Trixie looked past me to her friend.

"She sure was bent on talking to Shadow that day!"

"Shadow?" I echoed. "Shadow the hedgehog?"

"Yeah, you know him?"

_Definitely_ something weird going on. "Yeah…."


	5. Trixie's Passion

Chapter 5 – Trixie's Passion

Shadow the hedgehog--ultimate life form, unsung hero, misunderstood emo, mall security guard--was slowly becoming tangled in a messy mess of efforts on the part of everyone _but_ him, and he didn' even know it. Of course, neither did I at first, but with the things I saw going down it was clear that something was up, and the inklin' that someone was trying to pile some crap right under my nose was enough to cheese me off.

So yeah, here I was in front of Kay Jewelers, confronting this pink as cheap bubble gum hedgehog, trying to put two and two together on just what that trampy bat was up to with all her picture snapping and fishy visitation. Blinking thoughtfully for a second, Pink Gum started to say something more after mentioning she knew him, but I beat her to it.

"Any idea what Boob-Bat might've said to him?"

"I was hoping you could tell me," she returned plainly. "I mean, for all I know it may not have even had anything to do with this, but I can't help but feel a little paranoid right now…but then……." she trailed off while gazing at the band of rocks on her finger, then sighed. "…Oh, I don't know…."

Hearing Raye softly clear her throat, I slipped a glance her way to find her in antsy hesitation, guiding the exposed clasp of her pearl necklace behind her neck before chiming back in. "I believe he's working tonight if you need to ask him about it." Pink Gum's frown gathered to one side.

"I don't know if I'd get any better of an answer from him than I would from Rouge. He doesn't really like when people get into his business."

_Rouge_…? Why was that ringing a bell somewhere in the back of my head?

"The bat's name is Rouge?" I asked to be sure, and she nodded. "Sounds familiar…I could swear somebody mentioned it to me before…" As I racked my brain I turned to check on my shop real quick, which, of course, still didn' have any customers.

"Was it Shadow?" Pink Gum wondered. I thought about it a bit more, then shook my head.

"It was someone…somewhere outside the mall……." Absentminded fingers twisted the sapphire stud between two tiny golden loops along the bottom edge of my right ear. Finally I sighed. "Uggh, it's driving me crazy! Where the heck did I……oh!!"

It all came back to me at once. The name had come up in a conversation I'd had on a recent date--with a kitsune-fox named Tails.

Shizzamn he was handsome. It was the very first time I'd seen the likes of him in the mall; I certainly would've noticed if he'd dropped in before. As timing would have it, I was in the middle of a chat with Shadow a short distance from The Nuthouse when I spotted him approaching. He stopped to browse at a nearby cell phone accessory shop, but my tantalizing tanuki instincts could tell that he was really looking past the stuff at me. My train of thought long since derailed anyway, I hurried to wrap up my convo so I could get away from the hedgie and ensure Foxy knew that I was available. I batted a keen wink his way as I sauntered back to the shop, then paused beside the counter for a quick provocative pose. When I stole a glance back, I was surprised to see him talking with Shadow. Were they buddies, or did Foxy just need the services of a security guard? I watched from my shop for a while, unable to hear what was being said, but the longer they talked the more convinced I became that the two were acquainted somehow.

A little light bulb lit up over my head, and I quickly dove to the shelves below the counter to break out the gift bags we had leftover from last autumn. After a lot of rummaging and tossing most of the crap in there out on the floor, I finally found them. They weren' as nice as I remembered, it turned out; still, they were way better than the hokey dancing daisy design my sister had us using for spring, and I figured a dude like Foxy would dig the reddish-brown leaves and acorns scattered over the orange-tinted plastic. I shoveled a generous helping of cinnamon-roasted almonds into the chosen rig, then cinched the top with a metallic brown ribbon. As the finishing and most important touch, I jotted down a note for him inside a "Nuts About You" gift card and threaded the ribbon through its corner, which tied nicely into an inviting bow. Satisfied with my creation, I gracefully twirled about and struck a prize-bearing pose--but Foxy was gone.

"Excuse me," some lady at the counter called, "could I get a large strawberry lemonade?"

I'm sure I had to be giving her a dirty look when I turned around, but meh, nothing she couldn' get over. While I made her stupid drink I kept trying to scan the mall for Foxy, but between watching the lemon-squeezy machine and kicking the junk that was still on the floor out of the way, it was hard getting any search time in. I did spot Shadow, though, heading the other way.

"That'll be, uh, three dollars," I told the lady as I slid her drink to her and snatched her five off the counter. Normally a large lemonade would be almost four bucks, but I didn' have time to mess with coins. She paused a second after I handed her her change.

"Um…you gave me three dollars back," she began to say, but I was already lifting the hinged counter and letting myself out.

"Don' worry about it." Bad business or whatever, all I cared about at that point was taking off after Shadow. He was a fast dude when he wanted to be, and I needed to catch up to him before he got bored of walking. A couple of minutes of reckless weaving through shoppers later, I finally did. "Hey…Shadow!"

He turned around slowly when I called his name, still curling his fingers around one of his quills, and he looked a little, I don' know, perturbed, maybe? He just stared with that look on his face while I took a second to catch my breath. "Hey, um, that…that guy…you were talking to a minute ago…you wouldn' happen to know who he is or anything, would ya?"

His expression became a bit more glaring. "We're somewhat acquainted."

_Woo hoo_! "Do you know if he's, like, coming back anytime soon?"

"No."

"Were you planning on visiting him?"

"No."

"Know where he might've gone?"

By now his arms were tightly crossed. "What do you want from him?"

"Uh, well," I chuckled a bit, "I had a lil' something for him." Fresh plastic crinkled beneath its autumn aura as I dangled the bag from my fingers. He beheld it in stoic silence as I went on. "Sucks that I didn' get to give it to him." I pouted at the gift, hoping Shadow would take the hint and offer to pass it along, but he just turned to walk off.

"I'll tell him to go to your store if I see him again."

"Hey, wait a minute, where are you going?" I caught hold of one of his quills and tugged myself up to his side. He glared at me for a second but kept going.

"I need to finish my rounds."

"Well yeah, but, I was wondering real quick if maybe you could do me a reeeally big favor…and get this to your fox friend." Grinning, I held out the gift, but he wouldn' receive it. He wouldn' even look.

"I told you that I would tell him if I saw him," he answered bluntly. But he didn' understand!

"But you don' understand," I insisted, desperation twisting my voice. "It's really, really hard for tanukis to find mates outside of their own communities. Our culture, and, and reproduction requirements…we're talking about some pretty demanding stuff here, and, like, not just anyone has what it takes to, to satisfy that." I was even pawing at his arm. "Please, it could be years before I get another chance like this! I'll pay ya back for your trouble, okay? I'll give you a free deluxe Nuthouse gift assortment!"

He snorted at that. "I don't want your Nuthouse gifts." Funny how you don' think about those crazy little implications when you see and hear the name all the time.

"You could give always give it to your girl," I pressed on, "and tell her you just wanted to remind her that you're nuts about her, hehe!" On that note I made a quick glance back at the shop. Good, no one. I was considering what else I could add to this little bribe when Shadow spoke up again.

"I don't have a girl."

The comment stopped me in my tracks. I had to scour my memories for a second, to make sure I wasn' getting him mixed up with someone else. Surely he was the one holding that Pokemon candy that one day….

"…I thought…I mean…I could've sworn you said you had a son once!" I stammered, trotting after him to catch up. He continued onward and around the mall's northwest corner, saying nothing more. He knew I'd figure it out for myself. "..Sorry if I'm being too nosey or anything…my sister says it's one of my biggest flaws." I chuckled hoarsely and adjusted my earrings again. "But, you know, I could hook you up with something nice for a date or a friend or whatever…just please do me this favor! It's really important to me! I tipped you off about that shoplifter last week, didn' I?"

Suddenly he stopped, and after a few seconds he turned to me with an open hand. My lips formed a crooked smile as I dropped the bag into his waiting palm. "Arigatou, amigo!" I called as he strode off once more. "I'll make it up to you!"

With the important business out of the way, I made a lively beeline back to the other one. As expected, there still wasn' a single customer there. Unfortunately, neither was the tip jar. Meh, didn' have much in it anyway.

When I got home that night, my sister was sitting in the living room in front of the TV, not far from the front door. She's a tanuki like me, only instead of charcoal stripes on gray fur, hers matches her name, being like dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate.

She was wrapped to her shoulders in her favorite patchwork quilt, wearing a dull scowl on her face--pretty much the usual these days, so I didn' think much of it. "Hey, Cocoa, guess what!" I exclaimed, barely past the front door.

"Uh, you left the store unattended again?" Her snide tone told me she already knew the answer. But I played it cool.

"Says who?"

"Serrah texted me and said she saw you all the way over in the food court!"

"I was not 'all the way' in the food court!" That much was true; I was at least ten feet away. Ugh, I wanted to choke that muskrat.

"If she was able to see you from there you were close enough!"

The quilt began to stir as she spoke, and suddenly the little tanuki head of her daughter Cinnamon popped out. About eight years old at this point in time, she looked like a miniature version of Cocoa, though her fur has always had a hint of auburn throughout, and right now it was amusingly messy, flat on one side and ruffled on the other. She glanced at me and then looked up at Cocoa, barely able to keep her eyes open.

"Why is everybody yelling?"

"Heya, Cinni, didn' see you there," I greeted, while Cocoa unwrapped her and nudged her to get up from the couch.

"Trixie's just being a pain again. Go ahead and go to bed." We paused to bid good night to Cinni while she quietly did as she was told, then Cocoa slung the covers into the corner of the couch and flipped off the millionth rerun of The Golden Girls. "Can' even count on my own sister to do something _so simple_…."

Speaking of reruns, she sounded like she was about to launch into her millionth lecture, so I did my best to derail it. "Hey, I had to talk to the security guard! Something very important came up." She peered my way with skepticism heavy in her face, but at least she was listening. "For the very first time since we moved out here……I met a guy with the right vibes!" I clenched my fists in front of me for emphasis, but she didn' share my enthusiasm. She just kinda sat there with her mouth kinda drooping open, staring. I knew that look; she was on the verge. She was trying to decide whether to keep chewing me out or find out more about this guy. I made it easy for her. "He's a suh-mexy fox with sharp fur and a big, strong tail…and he was totally digging me!"

"And this had what to do with the security guard?"

"As it turns out, he and the security guard are friends, so he's gonna give him a note for me."

"The guard's giving the fox a note? With your number?"

I nodded and propped my chin on my folded hands. "Hehe! I can' wait!"

"Well, congratulations," she remarked unceremoniously, pushing herself to her feet, "I hope he's rich enough to support you, 'cause at the rate you're running the business we're probably gonna end up out on the street." She made no apology as she brushed roughly past me towards her bedroom.

I spent that night mostly wide awake, envisioning some of the possible avenues to be ventured from the starting gate of my delectable opportunity. Perhaps Shadow would deliver the gift right at the glory of daybreak, and Foxy would track down my number to my house and come bursting through the front door just as I emerged from my bedroom at my most ravishing…or, y'know, he could just call…and we could enjoy a twilight date at which I am the most appetizing dish under the cold-cast aura of the full moon accentuating my every irresistible detail. The possibilities! I just wished that Cocoa took it as seriously as the farce she called making a living in this messed up world…or that she at least got excited about _something_. She'd been this way ever since her own mate died, and while I could understand how that sort of loss could be rough, she'd been handling things so weird. I was never too crazy about the idea of moving out here, much less opening that stupid nut franchise, but she was really bent on the change, and I didn' want her to be out here all alone. Hopefully it'd help her clear her mind, I told myself, and then we could go back to living free and independent of financial worries, like normal Mobians.

Fox-shaped sugarplums were still dancing in my head as I cruised through my shift the next day, all the way up until Shadow showed his mug around the mall's northeastern bend. Since the coast was clear this time, I hopped right over the counter to go talk to him. As usual, he met me with a fleeting half-leer as he dutifully continued along his way. I was practically floating at this point, so it wasn' a bother to keep up.

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell?" my voice ascended as honey dripped from it. His leer returned to me, sharper.

"Well what?"

"Uh! The nuts! The nuts!" I turned my palms up and curled my fingers before him as if clutching fistfuls of their less modest equivalent. He looked comparably repulsed. "Did you give them to Foxy Loxy??" My breath hung in my chest while his hissed out, and he turned away again.

"Not yet."

Talk about pizzin' on my parade…buuut he was doing it as a big favor, so I didn' wanna be all pushing it. Last thing I needed was for him to change his mind. I let it go that day, blew it off with an airy comment, something to the effect of "maybe tomorrow." Did the same thing the next day…and quite a few days after that. Countless days after that. Oh my gosh, I was about to crawl out of my fur…but I never pressured him. I just went home and acted like a real biotch to my sister, and we got into some ridiculous arguments, one about which side of the toaster was best to use when you were only toasting one slice of bread. And poor Cinnamon, she was usually caught in the middle. So yeah, while my home life was pretty much a wreck, my patience with Shadow finally paid off--when he suddenly came up to the store one day, and when I wasn' even looking for him.

"Say wha?" I asked, looking up from a sink full of suds, and he repeated himself.

"He said yeah."

I blinked a couple of times. "Who said yeah?"

"Tails the fox. He answered your note."

In an instant I'd zipped to the counter, eyes wide, slinging suds everywhere. "_Really?!_" Noticing my mess, I started searching blindly for a towel, then remembered I was wearing my Nuthouse apron and yanked it off to wipe my hands and the sud-spattered counters. "W-what else did he say??"

"..He asked me to thank you and said that he'll be in touch."

"That's it?"

The hedgehog crossed his arms. "That's more than sufficient."

"I know," I giggled, "just…! Hee hee! I'm so excited!! Thank you so much!" I hopped over the counter and threw my arms around him in a sloppy, giddy hug. Poor guy, he was so tense at that moment, it made me wonder just what happened to his girl and how long it'd been. But geez, there wasn' anyone waiting and longing and suffering for someone like I was!

Thank the High One I got a call from Tails that same day, and thank Him again he did most of the talking, because I was so excited I could hardly breathe. We made a date for Saturday night at seven o'clock, and when I asked him where to meet him, he told me he'd drop by my place and _pick me up_. I just about died right there!! How many Mobians have their own vehicles?! After I got off the phone I immediately closed up The Nuthouse, even though it wasn' quite closing time yet, but hey, it was a super special occasion! When I sprang into the house a very short time later, Cocoa levitated a few inches off the couch in fright. She had to yell to be heard over my squealing.

"What happened, what's wrong??"

"He called! He called he called he called!!!"

"Who??"

Cinnamon came sprinting out of her room and down the stairs, yelling as well. "What's going on?"

And I gleefully yelled back, "That guy I told you about, he called!" My glances jumped between them, finding Cinni bubbling up with her own measure of excitement and Cocoa back in her lip-drooping stupor.

"The fox guy?" Cinni asked, and I beamed proudly.

"That's the one!" I laughed and bounced as my niece squealed a couple of octaves higher than I just had and came running over, and soon we were joining hands and bouncing and squealing together in the middle of the living room. Cocoa jumped to her feet, barely heard over us this time.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute! What about the store? Why did you close so early?"

I stopped hopping and caught my breath. "I had to come home and tell you the news!"

"Wha-! Trixie!!" Her hands slapped her sides. "Why didn' you just call my cel phone?!"

"Because! This is a mega big deal! One of the most important times of my life! I can' just call!"

"Yeah, Mom," Cinni chimed in, "this is Aunt Trixie's first date on Earth!" At her comment I started bouncing again.

"My first date on Earth!!" It was all we needed to begin squealing anew. Cocoa scowled and folded her ears.

"Stop it!" she barked at her daughter. "Don' encourage her!' Then she turned her ire on me. "See what kind of example you're setting?!"

"You mean one where I actually care about something other than money?" I jabbed.

"This isn' Mobius! We need money to survive here!"

"So? There's more to life than surviving, remember? It's easy for you to poo poo courtship since you've already got your kid, but if you wanna ensure the same for her, especially around here, you'd better teach her more than how to be a sourpuss hermit all the time!"

She sneered at that. "Whatever! It's called being _responsible_. Wouldn' kill you to try it sometime!"

"Pfft!" I faced Cinnamon, who was still holding my hands and now swaying my arms side to side. "She needs to get a life, doesn' she?" Cinni laughed.

"We should go places besides the mall!"

"Or even other places _in_ the mall would be a nice start," I pointed out. Cocoa started to say something, but by then my mind was off after its own piper. After about a minute I blurted out a new thought. "You know who you remind me of?" She blinked irritably, having been interrupted mid-sentence.

"Who, Trixie? Who do I remind you of?"

"The Mobian security guard in the mall. He's all grouchy like you."

Cinni tilted her head, finally standing still. "There's a Mobian security guard now?" Cocoa just rolled her eyes.

"I'd be all grouchy too if some girl kept bugging me to give gifts to other people."

"Hey, after dealing with Serrah drooling all over him he's _glad_ to see me!" I countered, and she placed her face in her hand.

"Ugh, I don' even wanna know…."

"Come to think of it," I went on, "he's a single parent too, and his kid's about Cinni's age." I noticed Cocoa's eyes peek up over her fingers, either out of actual interest or mere surprise. "I remember one day not too long after he first started working out there, he came to the store for some mango lemonade and had a little bag with a Pikachu marshmallow pop sticking out, and I said something like 'Never would've guessed you'd be into Pokemon,' and he kinda gave me a dirty look at first-"

"You are way too nosey…." Cocoa sighed.

"At _first_," I hissed, "but then he was like 'It's for my son,' and I just stared at him for a second because I couldn' picture him having a family, he seemed so antisocial. Come to find out that whoever he was with isn' with him anymore. Don' know if she died or whatever."

"Huh. Surprised you didn' just ask."

"Well, I would if I didn' think he'd bite my head off, like you do." I chuckled as she shook her head. "I think you two would be a good match for each other. You wanna meet him?" I lit up at her with a grin but waited in case she took it seriously.

"Oh yeah, I wanna meet him," she answered, heading into the kitchen with Cinni in tow, "so I can sock him in the face for contributing to your irresponsible behavior!"

It hadn' been much to me at that moment, but the more I thought about it that night, the more I wondered if maybe she really _did_ need a new guy, someone to recomplete her wounded soul. Maybe it led her out here for that very purpose. It wasn' like any more tanuki guys were going to want anything to do with her, having already been done over, so dating a low-drive species made sense. And what better candidate for a single parent than another? It seemed so obvious now, and odd that it hadn' occurred to me before, but then, back in my community they always said a tanuki's best realizations come in bed. Maybe it was true!

I approached Shadow a bit more reservedly the next evening, laughing inwardly at myself for being relieved to find him in a placid mood. Felt like I was about to try to sell him a used car. He stood near the corner just beyond the food court, observing a gang of rowdy teens from afar, when I greeted him, Trixie style.

"Ni hao! How's it goin'? Thanks again for passing along that note for me, man! Just let me know whenever you want that gift basket, and if you want it shipped somewhere, I can do that too!"

He turned an ear toward me as I spoke but remained focused on the teens. "…Hmph."

I paused for a second, glancing at the floor, then decided the heck with it and just blurted it out. "I've been doing some thinking, and I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go out with my sister sometime. She's a single parent just like you, and her daughter is the same age as your son. I'll introduce you to her next time she's here, 'kay? I think you'd get along good; she's kinda emo like you too…no offense!"

Neither of us got a chance to say anything else before some other lady's voice cut in. "Well! Long time no see!" We both turned to take in a snowy white bat with all kinds of melon going on. She propped a hand on her hip in an all-too casual fashion. "Got a minute to spare?" she asked Shadow. Apparently waiting her turn wasn' her style.

"Um, excuse me," I spoke up, straining to keep my tone polite, "we were talking." She responded with a snide smirk at my company apron.

"Shouldn't you be getting back to The Nuthouse?" It was all she said before grabbing hold of Shadow and trying to lead him away. Man…if it hadn' been for the fact that he was the security guard, I probably would've decked her right there. Instead I looked at Shadow, expecting him to put the biotch in her place.

He didn'.

"I'll be back," he said to me, and then he walked away with Boob-Bat, just like that. What, priority was determined by the size of your chest? I glowered at the barely discernable protrusion beveling the upper half of my apron.

With nothing better to do, I trolled back to the store, where some little human kid was standing by the counter. I let myself in and faced him, and I'm guessing my expression and voice were probably not the friendliest.

"What do you want?"

He just kinda fidgeted there while he stared at me, too young or shy or stupid to talk or something. I reached to a nearby tray, retrieving a tiny paper cup containing nut samples, and offered it to him. "Here, want some pecans? …Go ahead, it won' bite." Finally he took it from my hand. "There you go. Now get lost." Not that I have a problem with kids…but I really wasn' in the mood.

I could see them talking from the shop. I went about dumping cinnamon on the latest batch of almonds while I watched the two through narrowed eyes, 'til it dawned on me that I'd already put cinnamon on this batch earlier. Whoops. Seemed a waste to toss them out, so I poured the overseasoned nuts into a large bag and stashed it under the counter to mellow out for a few days. When I looked back up, Boob-Bat was gone, and Shadow was back on the move. I was over the counter and on his tail in no time.

No sense beating around the boobs. "Was that girl your ex?" I asked him the moment I reached his side. He whipped around, red eyes flaming, and they flared with his answer.

"_No!_" He sounded almost offended at the very idea, so much so that I laughed.

"I was about to say!" And I said it anyway. "No wonder you broke up!" He was quiet for a moment after that, more or less leering, then turned away.

"Don't you ever watch your store?"

My ears stooped to match my voice. "Meh. Not like it's going anywhere…."

"Your merchandise might be."

"With you on the job," I differed, "I ain' got nothin' to worry about!" And I winked and skipped off back to work, having had my fill of contrariness.

The day after that is kind of a haze; I just remember being really distracted thinking about my upcoming date and either messing up stuff at the store or forgetting to do it altogether. But Saturday, oh, I'll never forget Saturday. Cocoa and I swapped hours that day, meaning I worked from nine in the morning until two p.m., and then she took over until closing. As soon as she showed up, I raced home and started steaming my fur right away. I wanted everything to be perfect! Even soaked my nails in my premium coconut crème cuticle conditioner, imported from the Bahamas. No stop left unpulled!

As evening draped the sky and the special hour drew near, Cinni sat at the living room coffee table, looking up from her homework at my constant pacing. "Aunt Trixie! You're driving me crazy!"

"I can' help it! My heart's about to pound right out of my chest!" I made my way into my bedroom to give Cinni some peace, but in there I kept finding myself stopping in front of my full length mirror.

Tanukis are notorious for having much more extensive wardrobes than most other species, mainly because of the need for coverage on males, but it certainly isn' uncommon to see females don a variety of outfits. I owned a few different ensembles myself, but for this occasion, I'd chosen to wear the same thing I did the day me and Tails first met--or first became aware of each other's existence, at least. I glanced it all over in my reflection: a strawberry cream hoodie zipped partway over a milky camisole, and a midnight blue pleated miniskirt with matching hitop laced boots. Meh, not exactly off the Prada runway, but I felt it brought out my best features.

A sudden rumble of thunder vibrated across the house, jostling the trophies on my shelves in atrocious harmony with the more delicate collectibles and trinkets surrounding them. I groaned aloud at the weather's awful timing, but when I peered out the window I couldn' see a cloud in the sky. I was still staring out, blinking, when the doorbell rang. "_Oh my gosh!!_"

"I'll get it," Cinni announced, and she was on her way to do that until I practically ran the poor thing over.

"Sorry don' worry about it I'll get it!"

She lay crumpled near the stairs, having barely dived out of my way in time. "…Ow…."

Uttering another quick apology, I tugged down my camisole a little as I opened the door. There stood Tails, poised with a modest bouquet of Mobian lilies and a charming grin.

"Hey there! Hope I didn't come too early."

It took me a few seconds to spit something out. "N…not at all!" Wait, what was I saying?! That was totally a volley opportunity, and I totally blew it! Okay, don' panic, Trixie, you can make up for it later!

"These are for you," he spoke of the lilies, offering them gently. I received them with both hands and nestled my muzzle amongst the speckled lavender petals.

"Aww, they're in full bloom…just like me." Not the best recovery, but I hoped it would at least help simplify his own courting pitches. My eyes lifted to his, finding a decidedly odd expression. Crap, he must've thought that was so lame! "..Ready to go?"

"Oh, yes! Right this way!" He turned aside and extended his arm, pointing the way to his…_private jet_?!? I took a couple of steps and gawked. So _that_ was the rumble I'd heard! He must have noticed my jaw on the ground, because he suddenly chuckled. "Do you like it?" I just nodded with my mouth still hanging open like an idiot. "Shall we go for a ride?" That snapped me out of it.

"Totally!" I turned and stuck my head back in the door. "Leaving now! See ya, Cinni!"

"Have fun!" she called back, and I pulled the door shut.

Tails took care to get me all seated and buckled into the plane comfortably, then hopped into the pilot's seat. "Here we go!" With the flick of a few switches and levers, the engines roared to life, and within seconds we were airborne, rising straight up. I watched the houses and trees shrink to the size of toys, and then we rocketed off. Whew, it was so fast my heart stopped for a second!

The flight was short but amazing. I have to admit that even to this day there have been few experiences in my life as thrilling as that one. Station Square was like a twinkling board game, a garden of lights and landscapes coursing with life. From that high up, even the ordinary cares of life became small. If only they stayed that way.

"Preparing to land," Tails noted after only a few minutes. I'm pretty sure he'd talked about other things during the flight, but I don' really remember what. We slowed to a halt and descended slowly until we touched down on the roof of a large building that was covered with fist-sized brown rocks. "Italian okay with you?" he asked as he helped me from my seat.

"I'll eat just about _anything_," I replied with a flirty smile, and he smiled back.

"Great, we can go all out!" Wow, what a volley!

"Speaking of all out," I returned, "is that how you got your name?"

"My name…?"

"Mm hmmmmm."

"Uh, well, it's just a nickname really. Guess I'm kinda best known for these." He twisted a bit and swung his tail about--and then another one. He really did have two tails. "Come over here and I'll show you what they can do." Leading me to the edge of the rooftop, he took me up into his arms with those three little words. "Don't let go." The tails began to twirl behind him, then stiffened and accelerated to a furious pace, like the rotor of a helicopter. The next thing I knew, we were flying again! I gripped his arm tightly with one hand and had a thick fistful of chest fur in the other, my breath stilled as I watched the sidewalk below creep up to meet us. He set me down before a brass-bordered set of glass doors bearing the name Paccouli's in fancy script. "Here we are!"

This place was the swank. Chandeliers blooming in golden curls graced the mural ceiling, and trios of real candles adorned every table in braided pewter bases. On our way to our table, Tails leaned in and pitched another courting line. "You look really nice tonight." That was an easy one.

"Play your cards right," I whispered, "and you'll get to do more than look." I expected him to come right back with another volley, but he didn' say anything. His ears just kinda went all crooked, so I figured he was distracted.

Once we were seated and had placed our orders, we got to chatting again. I told him a little about my crappy job, and he described some of his aeromechanics projects.

"The prototype engine required a couple of Chaos Emeralds to test its photon conversion features," he explained about one particular model, "but I only had one on hand so I visited the emerald guardian, who's a guy named Knuckles, to see if maybe I could borrow another one from him, you know? But I get there in he's in this really bad mood because he'd just broken up with Rouge, his uh, longtime girlfriend, and he just knew she was going to do something awful to him soon."

"Why did he think that?"

"She came back and told him!" We shared a quick laugh. "But I managed to get him to loan me one anyway, so now it's just a matter of getting the engine to consistently fuse the separate energies. Heh, I've got the thing in about thirty-seven pieces on the floor of my workshop right now--which smells great now, by the way, thanks to those almonds you gave me!"

"You didn' eat them?"

"Oh, no, I couldn't, they smell too good to eat!"

Another smile crept across my face. "I hope I don'."

"Heh…heh heh…." He tamed his tense grimace with a sip of water before responding. "Anyways, that's pretty much my career in a nutshell, building fancy gadgets to sell to the highest bidder." He adjusted his silverware after that, and then glanced toward the kitchen. That was it? That was, like, not even close to a volley. Did he miss the cue? Again? If he built and flew his own planes, surely he wasn' that dense. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and pitched a number of other cues throughout dinner, practically spelling out his responses for him, but he didn' field a single one. He'd either just laugh or change the subject, and I was seriously starting to get frustrated until it occurred to me that maybe this guy wasn' so much into verbal cues as visual ones. Okay, fair enough; I'd try that. But no, no matter what my tongue did with my pasta or where the wax from the candles ended up, I got nothin'. He just squirmed around like a worm on a hook, and hardly one worth biting.

After dinner we went for a walk downtown, and to no surprise, I was the one who had to do all the touching. Even my most blatant advances seemed lost on him, like I was romancing one of his flying machines. I think I was happier to see that plane at the end of the date, in fact. …Yeah, I definitely was. Tails was a nice guy and all, but he just didn' have the stuff to back up the vibes.

"Thanks for dinner and everything," I said to him on my doorstep that night. He smiled faintly and nodded.

"You're very welcome. It was…an interesting night."

_Coulda fooled me._

He hesitated a moment, then went on, "I…think it's pretty safe to say we're not the best match, right?" Boy was I relieved to hear that. I busted out laughing but decided to bite my tongue lest I make one of those outspoken mistakes my sister always accused me of. I looked him in the eyes for the first time since we left the restaurant, and he smiled again, more warmly this time. "But I believe everything happens for a good reason."

I had trouble following how he could think that about such an obvious waste of time. But, I didn' know back then what I know now.

He was right.


	6. Mercury's Shadow

Chapter 6 - Mercury's Shadow

"Hey, Hot Stuff…call me for a good-"

The crinkly orange bag and its note were snatched out of my hand before I could even finish reading. After a second's hesitation I peered up, even though I knew what I would find: Dad's scathing eyes, ready to melt me with _hate_ vision. He pointed to the door.

"Out."

I tucked my head and made my way out of his room, but not without some justification. "I was just curious. I kept smelling cinnamon all week."

"If I'd intended for you to handle it I wouldn't have had it in here," he grumbled as he emerged after me and shut the door. It met the jamb with a dull thud, and his hand lingered on the knob a moment before twisting the latch into its catch. I likewise swallowed my regret.

"…Where did it come from?"

He was already heading past me to the kitchen and merely answered over his shoulder. "That's not your concern." It always annoyed me when he said that…but lately it made me downright angry. Rather, the fact that he'd been saying things like that _so much_ lately was making me angry. The past few weeks, every time I'd asked a question or tried to share something of interest or concern, he acted like I was some kind of unworthy infidel who was interfering with his life. This time I decided I'd had enough.

I strode straight to the front door, retorting, "Then I guess I'll go _concern_ myself with something else." Dry hinges wailed sharply over the stiff rubber draft guard scraping the carpet, and though I didn't look back, my own hand lingered on the knob before I stepped out and dragged it to. Outside, I paused longer still--but there was nothing else to hear. No warm, fatherly voice urging me to wait or come back in, or even an angry, hateful one. Nothing. I sighed deeply and continued on my way.

Now if only I knew where I was going.

Several minutes zoned by while I walked around kind of aimlessly, just taking in the city sights and sounds. The usual rush hour cars crept by, and of the countless pedestrians, I felt like the only one who stood out. I thought about switching to skate mode; my current footgear had retractable inline wheels that could be engaged with a simple hands-free motion. But why? Just because my dad always skated, I had to too? No. I wanted to be my own person now, not just a dumb kid imitating his parent because he couldn't think for himself. I continued walking through downtown Station Square.

From street to street, there was plenty going on everywhere I looked, no shortage of things to try and do…but I didn't feel up to any of it. All I really craved was the comfort of home--a nurturing home, where someone's cooking pancakes in the morning and you get a hug when you come back after being gone all day, like on TV. If they showed stuff like that, surely it had to exist somewhere. It sure didn't in mine. The closest thing I had to it was Mother's home. At least there I felt somewhat welcome.

Somewhat.

Mother was never the problem; she always went out of her way to look after me and make me feel loved and accepted whenever I was around. Mr. Sonic was usually kind enough to me too, though there were days it seemed like he hated my guts deep down. The problem, these days, was Misty.

As I neared Mother's home, Misty sneered her usual caliber of greeting when she saw me coming from where she sat in the front yard. "Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in!" Now almost six years old, she had developed a tang of sorts in her personality that could be easily summed up in a single word: _brat_. It came with an extra edge, however, that really started to bother me, in a scary kind of way. "Too bad he forgot to finish it off!"

"Hey, Misty," I greeted, having learned to ignore her putdowns. "Whatcha up to?"

"Playin' with the ants."

I watched as she hunched over a bare spot in the grass, where a trail of half-inch, solid black ants crawled from tiny mounds in the earth. Picking up a bottle of dish soap beside her, she singled one of the insects out and proceeded to squeeze a green apple-scented circle around it. She grinned as it tried to get around the goop, only to find itself trapped, and when it attempted in desperation to wade through, she dispensed another gob right on top of the poor thing. My muzzle wrinkled at the scene.

"…Is Mother home yet?" I asked, taking care to step around the mess on my way to the door.

"No, _Mother's_ not home yet," she answered in a snotty air, keeping her focus on the ants as she encircled a new victim. I let out a shallow sigh and sat down on the concrete steps that led down beside the porch to a driveway on the left.

"Guess I'll just wait."

"You're gonna be waiting a while, then, 'cause she went with Daddy to run some errands."

"That's fine."

"What, you that bored?" Her crystal rose eyes suddenly drifted my way, arching with venomous curiosity. I snorted a bit and angled myself more toward the driveway, resting my chin on my knees.

"I'm not the one pouring soap on ants."

"Fine," she snapped, plunking the bottle down hard enough to send bubbles shooting out the top, "let's go find something else to do."

My fingers gripped the edge of the concrete a bit more tightly as her words twisted my stomach. "…I'd rather just-"

"I know where we can go!" She acted as though she never heard what I'd started to say, though from her sudden loudness I could tell that she meant to drown me out. She got to her feet and dusted herself off. "Let's go to the mall!"

The mall? That didn't sound so bad, not like the destructive stuff she usually wanted to do. I blinked in subtle relief.

"Okay, but let's make sure to leave before my dad shows up."

"Not that one!" She sounded annoyed that I hadn't read her mind. "The Mega Square one!"

"But…that's, like, an hour away."

"So?"

"So why can't we just go to the other one?"

"Because there's a game I wanna play at this one! Sheesh! Stop being a whiny wussbag for once!"

Again I ignored her insults. "There's a new game out there? What's it called?"

"You'll see!" She ground the anthill flat with her toe and started off toward the street. I hopped up and followed, knowing that more than likely she would need my help to find the monorail station.

"Just tell me," I bugged her for the fifth time as we stepped off the train into the mall nearly an hour later. "What's it called?"

"It's called…umm…Drop n' Plop," she finally told me, but she didn't look up so she didn't see the face I made at the name.

"Sounds like some kind of gross thing you do on a toilet," I muttered, starting to have doubts again. She didn't say anything else but led the way up the straight-edged spiral of ramps that took us to the mall's top floor. She came to a stop by the glass rail lining the ledges that overlooked the lower levels. I glanced at the stores nearby. "Now what?"

"Here. Chew this." She pulled a pack of fruity Chiclets gum from her jumper pocket and shook a single piece out into my hand. I peered at the shiny yellow rectangle.

"Just one?"

"Yes," she hissed, sticking a white piece into her own mouth. After about ten seconds she plunged a couple of fingers in and pulled the tiny wad out. "Watch this!" Slipping her skinny arm between the glass panes, she let the piece dangle from the end of her thumb over the heads of unsuspecting shoppers below. As a human woman and her two daughters came into range, Misty flicked her ammo…and it landed in the hair of the younger child, who didn't even seem to notice. "Woo hoo, first try!"

I have to admit that the sight of the little white blob in her dark hair was pretty amusing. I withheld my laughter, though, and instead asked, "_This_ is what you call Drop n' Plop?" while gnawing my own piece. She turned and poked me in the ribs.

"Now it's your turn! See if _you_ can do it the first try!"

Brow cinched, I stared through the glass at the seemingly endless trails of people. Finally I plucked the now colorless gum from my mouth and slung it aimlessly over the rail. It missed everyone, and we couldn't even tell where on the floor it landed. This wasn't the moment I expected her to break into singing, but she did. "Yoooooou suuuuuuck!" I'd barely gotten my mouth open to say something when she stuck another piece in. "Try again!" My eyes darted at passers-by while I bit through the candy coating.

Then I said it. "…This is dumb!"

"You're dumb!" she shot back. Smacking on her next piece, she pressed her face against the gap between panes, and moments later, she spat another dime-sized wad straight out. It sailed at least two feet before it arced into freefall, finally coming to rest right in front of someone's well-shined shoes.

"You missed," I started to say, until my eyes followed the rest of the man's outfit up to a shiny golden badge--the kind worn by a Mega Square Mall security guard.

And he was looking right at us.

Misty noticed right about the same time. "Uh oh. Time to go!" She was up and off in half a second, and I wasn't far behind. My heart pounded with deafening thickness in my ears as we bolted for the nearest exit, wherever that was, and I dared not look back even though the guard had to reach our floor before he'd even have a chance at catching us. It seemed like an eternity before the precious glowing EXIT sign came into view.

"Wait," I yelled ahead to Misty, "this is a fire exit!"

"So?!" She hopped and did a homing dash into door's bright red octagon release lever, setting off a rapidly firing bell overhead at the same time. I winced as I passed under it. Beyond the door, a steep spiraling staircase stretched like a square Slinky all the way to ground level. I was ready to duck and roll down the flights pinball style, but Misty had other ideas. "This way!" She began to jump _up_ the steps, about five at a time. I remained by the door.

"W-where are you going??"

She kept climbing but called down, "They'll never look for us up here!"

To me it made more sense to outrun them than try to hide. I stood in place, panting, switching from my glance up the escape to down it, then up again.

The alarm was ringing, the guard was coming, and I couldn't make up my frickin' mind!

I took a deep breath…and then, against all better judgment, I hurried up the stairs after Misty. At the very top there was another door; I thrust it open and found myself on the mall's roof. Misty was nowhere in sight. Nearly trembling, I shut the heavy door as quietly as possible and took a couple of steps.

"…_Misty!_" My voice barely edged above a whisper, but I could hardly help it. I was afraid to even breathe.

"Over here," she responded from around the corner, to my relief for a change. I treaded carefully over countless chunks of spongy black stuff and joined Misty's side, overlooking the mall's extensive parking lot. Straight below, we could see patrons flowing in and out of the mall's main entrance. "Wow!" she exclaimed after a few moments. "If I played Drop n' Plop from way up here, I wouldn't even be able to tell if I hit anybody!"

I was more concerned with the whereabouts of the pursuing guard and how the heck we were going to get out of here. I started scanning the rooftop for another route down, glancing frequently over my shoulder toward the door.

"Hmm," Misty mused to herself in the meantime, digging through her jumper pocket again. "I lost my gum when we were running from that guard man." Her pout curled upward, though, as she reached for one of the rubbery shards. "Maybe I can use this!" But then it careened back down when she found the fragment to be covered in sticky tar. "Ewwwwwwww!!" She quickly dropped the piece and did her best to wipe the gunk off onto her jumper. Then she ventured back into her pocket. "……Oh! I know!" She pulled out a soft plastic coin purse that looked like the face of Hello Kitty on one side, and on the other, _Misty Iris_ was written across it in sloppy permanent marker. I took one look at it and frowned.

"Don't even think about throwing coins down there."

She snapped her head up, suddenly angry. "Why not?"

"Because you could hurt somebody, that's why."

"Nuh uh!"

"Yes you could."

"You just don't wanna do it because you're too scared!" she accused. "You always chicken out at everything. For being the son of the _ultimate life form_," the title was sneered, "you sure are a load of fail!"

Where did she learn these lines, anyway?

I stood there staring, unsure whether to stick to the original point of argument or defend my point of being, but as far as she was concerned the conversation was over. She squeezed the purse into a gaping pucker and probed for potential ammo inside.

"_Misty_," I practically growled through my teeth, becoming immersed in a wave of anger. The next thing I knew I was lunging at her to take the purse away. She jerked it back, but I still managed to grasp it, which quickly led to a tug-of-war.

"LET GO!!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"_Give it here!_" I shouted back. At this point I didn't care anymore if the guard heard us. We hollered and struggled on for a few seconds and, when it became clear to her that I was winning the strength match, she dove forward and bit me, right on the hand. I kept hanging on until the pain was too intense, then jerked away. That moment caught Misty off guard; her hands whipped up overhead, and the purse flew straight out of them, over the ledge.

"_MERCURY!!!_" She wailed at me as we both watched it fall, "_Now look what you made me do!!_" Tears spilled quickly as she buried her eyes in her fists. I remained silent, watching, until the purse hit the ground.

Thank the High One it didn't hit anyone.

"Calm down," I finally said as she sobbed on. "It should be fine. Let's just go down and get it before somebody else picks it up."

"M…my…my phone was in there!!" she choked out, causing me to pause with wide eyes.

"…You have a cel phone?" As much stuff as she broke, I couldn't believe her parents got her one. _I_ didn't even have one! She cried some more, and I started looking around again. "Here, I think I see a ladder over in that corner. Let's climb down."

She looked up, sniffing hard. "Not 'til you say sorry!!"

I flinched. "Sorry for what?!"

"For making me drop my phone!"

"I didn't make you drop it!"

"Yes you did!!"

"You're the one who bit me!"

She stomped her foot. "You better say sorry, or else I'm not going!!"

I was sorry, all right…sorry I ever went anywhere with her. I rolled my eyes and walked off, toward the ladder.

"Fine," I retorted, "stay here and let the guard catch you." Grabbing hold of the metal arches that led down the side of the building, I only glanced at her once more before starting down. She was gaping in disbelief.

"_Hey!!_" she shrieked after a second. She ran to the top of the ladder and peered down. "………Wait for me!!"

Several grueling minutes later, we were on the ground at last. It had been a several-foot drop from the bottom of the ladder, but nothing a proper tuck n' roll landing couldn't handle. After I got to my feet and rounded the corner, I spotted the coin purse lying on the asphalt a short distance from the mall's entrance.

"There it is," I noted aloud, hesitating just long enough to ensure there were no guards in sight before jogging over to pick it up. Misty was right behind me, and when I squeezed the purse open and we peered inside, we both winced. The phone definitely wasn't in any fixable state. In fact, the coin purse was the only reason its pieces weren't scattered over a ten-foot radius.

"Mom's gonna _kill_ me!" Misty whined. Even after all the trouble she'd caused, I felt kinda sorry for her…but then she _kept_ whining it, all the way home. Even at the front door: "Mom's gonna kill me!"

"Misty," I grunted, "you say that one more time and Mother's gonna have to take a number!"

Then the door opened, and Mother met us. "Iris! Where have you been? Why isn't your phone on? I've been trying to call!" After ushering her wayward daughter in, she turned to me. "Come on in, Mercury."

I stepped across the threshold reluctantly, and since Misty now seemed to be at a loss for words, I spoke up. "We went to the mall."

"How come your phone's turned off?" Mother demanded again as we all headed into the kitchen. Then she got a better look at Misty. "And what have you got all over your clothes?!" Misty just shrugged, though it was obvious she was very uneasy. I could see Mother's eyes beginning to squint with suspicion. "Did you sneak into the janitor's closet again?"

Mr. Sonic came in about that time, finishing off a can of soda. He reached his free hand out to pat Misty on the head and granted me a nod as he passed.

"Told ya she was fine, Amy," he said before letting out a small burp and crushing his can with an intensified grip. It clattered loudly onto a pile of others in a paper bag beside the fridge.

Mother propped her hands on her hips. "But she broke the phone rule." Her eyes quickly returned to Misty. "Your phone has to be on at all times while you're out."

"Yeah," Mr. Sonic then joined in, "you know the rule, Pumpkin. What's up with the off time?"

Both parents stared at Misty as she fidgeted and stammered for an explanation. "It…uh…it's dead…."

I couldn't help but snort at that, mumbling, "_I'll say_," under my breath. Misty shot me a dirty look. Mother, meanwhile, was still looking doubtful, and Mr. Sonic a bit surprised.

"Huh, already?" he remarked. "I just charged it last night! Sounds like it might need a new battery."

"_Or a new everything_," I mumbled again, which was followed by a heel to my shin. I sidled away from Misty as her dad extended a waiting hand.

"Lemme take a look at it, Iris. I'll see what it needs."

Misty's eyes jumped to Mother, whose attention had turned to reheating what was left of dinner. "Uhhh," she hesitated, glancing back at the hand, "…I'll do it later!" Then she spun around and quickly headed out of the room. Mother turned abruptly and Mr. Sonic was frozen in place, gaping.

"Iris!" Mother nearly shouted. "Get back here right now!" We all waited as the long-winded whine down the hall grew closer and Misty eventually stepped back in. "Give your father your phone! What's the matter with you?"

Mr. Sonic chuckled it off. "She's just all wound up." Misty slowly handed him the entire coin purse, which he gave a squeeze and began to shake over his open palm. "Let's see here…." His eyes widened when the first piece came out, and they got wider still with each piece after that. "I…think I see the problem!"

Mother shrieked at the sight. "_Iris!!_"

"It's not my fault!" Misty wailed.

I guess I should've seen the next part coming, but that's naivety for you.

She pointed at me. "Mercury broke it!!"

I froze in the kind of repulsed shock one experiences when he's become the target of misrepresentation-style betrayal; I must've looked to her parents like an Earth deer caught in headlights. I could barely move, much less speak. Thank the High One for Mother's scrutiny.

"How exactly did he break it?" she questioned, the discerning squint ever present.

"He made me drop it!" the brat explained, albeit vaguely.

Mr. Sonic cut in with an amused snort. "Off what, Niagara Falls?"

"We were up high at the Mega Square Mall." One hand formed a square edge and was lifted as tall as it could go to illustrate her point.

Mother's turn again. "And he _made_ you drop it?"

"Yeah, 'cause he tried to take it and then I tried to pull it back and he just let go!"

Finally I piped up. "I let go because you bit me!"

"I bit you 'cause you were trying to take my phone!"

"I was not trying to take your phone! I didn't even know it was in that thing!"

"You were still trying to take it!"

Mother and Mr. Sonic looked like they were watching a tennis match, their heads bobbing left and right with each return of the blame ball. But Mother had had enough. She put a firm hand on Misty's shoulder and turned her face to me.

She asked calmly, "Why were you trying to take Iris' phone, Mercury?"

"I wasn't!" I balked. "I was trying to take her coin purse because she was trying to throw coins on people!"

Mother's head whipped back around. "You were throwing coins at people??"

"And gum," I added. It wasn't something that really needed to be divulged, admittedly, but she'd ticked me off.

"Iris!" Mr. Sonic exclaimed, his tone expressing disbelief that his little angel could do such a thing.

Misty's voice caught in her throat, leaving her with nothing more to say. She peered up at one parent, then the other, and finally her levee gave way, spilling its torrent down her cheeks. This time, when she retreated to her room, they let her go. Mr. Sonic turned to me as Mother went after her.

"Eh," he sighed, rubbing the back of his head, "why don't you go ahead and go home, Merc?"

In hindsight, I can't say I really blame him…but I was running out of homes I actually _wanted_ to be in. Only one more came to mind now.

My next trip was going to be a pretty long one, so after I left Mother's I decided to get some rest. I returned to the apartment knowing Dad would be gone to work and set my alarm for four in the morning to make sure I could get up and out of there before he got back. When I lay in bed my mind replayed the events of the day, and I fantasized all the different ways I could've handled each situation. Better, smarter ways. And ways that let me punt Dad's and Misty's butts without worry of criticism or punishment. Wishful thinking soon gave way to exhaustion, though, and I slumbered soundly all the way until the alarm's obnoxious tones filled the room.

You know you're irritable when you're annoyed by something that's doing exactly what it's supposed to do.

_It's four o' clock_, they blared. _Time to get up_. I rolled over, having groggy second thoughts about my little independence crusade. Was it really worth it to sacrifice the comforts of an extra hour in bed, a pantry filled with snacks, and unlimited Internet in order to prove a point to Dad?

_It's four o' clock._

Was he even getting the point?

_Time to get up._

Was he even noticing?

_Time to get lost._

The questions made me angry, the fact that I was even having to ask myself them. Apparently what I was doing was worth it--or at least warranted. Bringing a hard fist down on the clock, I slid out of bed and stumbled to the kitchen to grab something I could eat on the road.

By the time the sun was up I was well on my way to my next destination, having crossed through the world portal into Mobius. The birds were already warbling, the flowers were blooming, and the sweet scent of fresh country air filled my nostrils. As tragic as my parting circumstances had been from here, returning to the area still enveloped me in a subtle sense of comfort. It was just the thing I needed right now, and it helped make the four-hour trip feel a lot shorter. What it didn't do, unfortunately, was help me figure out which way I was supposed to be going. The route to my destination had been altered by nature and Mobian alike over the years since the days I'd regularly traveled it, which left me at times wondering if I'd taken a wrong turn or gone too far. The closer I got, though, the more confident I became that I was on the right track, until finally, the twisted, towering landmark I sought came into view.

Under the crown of the gnarling oak, housed by a short but sheer ledge, a meager earthen den stood in little conflict with my recollections of its distinctive construct. It had been my early childhood home, back when Dad and I were with Momma…Momma being Maple the possum.

Maybe she wasn't my real mom…but I'll always call her that.

However, our past here didn't make me feel any less like a stranger approaching the decayed wooden door. In certain ways it all felt so foreign, as though my visit was more of an intrusion, or, at least, would appear that way to anyone who happened to see me. My pace slowed under the weight of mounting uncertainties and hesitation.

"Story of my life," I muttered to myself.

At the door, I froze. A fanned handprint was clearly visible in the thick layer of dirt that had come to coat the panels. A very recent handprint. Glancing toward the handle, I also discovered that the door was even open, nearly an inch. An inkling of fear joined the uncomfortable emotions sundae souring my stomach. Holding my breath, I began to reach out to open the door a little farther when a loud noise from somewhere inside caused me to jump. It sounded like furniture briefly scraping over the hardwood floor. After a few seconds I heard it again, then again. I braced myself and pushed my way into the home.

Just past the door a dividing wall separated the living room and kitchen, on the left, from the bathroom and bedroom, on the right. I peeked down the left side and immediately discovered the source of the sounds--the refrigerator, already halfway out of the kitchen, scooting in my direction one noisy inch at a time. The dining table and chairs were all up against the wall as if to make way for it.

I'd seen things here seem to kind of move on their own at times, but this was ridiculous.

Then I heard another sound. Just behind the fridge, each time it moved, a voice grunted and strained with exertion. I blinked and summoned the courage to speak. "…Hello?"

Now there was complete silence. I took a few cautious steps into the living room and called out again, "Who's in here?" My eyes were fixed on the fridge, awaiting any sign of life. It was several seconds later, about the time I was really starting to get freaked out, when a small, rounded ear and a pair of wide hazel eyes peeked around the appliance. I stepped over for a better look but gave myself plenty of buffer space.

Crouched on the floor, tightly gripping the exposed compressor assembly, was a reddish brown mouse in a silver-trimmed fuchsia dress. She pulled herself up with trembling hands and forced a weak smile.

"H-hello," she began with a timid air, then added a breathless laugh, "I'm sorry, I thought you were a…I wasn't sure what to think!"

My greeting was not as kind. "Who are you?" I demanded, anger filtering into my voice as I wondered what this lady was doing here messing with Momma's things.

"I'm a relative of the person who used to live here," she claimed, but I wasn't about to swallow that.

"Nuh uh! This house was owned by a possum!" My fists clenched at my sides, my body subconsciously readying itself to drive this trespasser out if necessary. I could see her starting to re-tense.

"She was my half-sister. We had two different mothers."

_Two mothers_…?

Up until that moment, I'd felt more or less alone in my strange family background. All of a sudden I didn't feel quite so much like an alien, and she didn't seem so much like an intruder. It was enough that my oppressive air began to dwindle, and she in turn cracked a new smile. "Were you…a friend of hers?"

I blinked and looked away. "It's kind of a long story, but…I used to live here too."

This time she took a step toward me. "Are you Shadow's son?" My eyes jumped back to her quickly.

"Yeah," I answered somewhat blankly, unsure whether I should be giving out this information. She nodded.

"I thought you might be."

My brow shifted slightly. "…Did my dad tell you to come here?"

"No, I found out about this from an acquaintance of Maple's."

"What did they tell you?"

"They?"

"The acquaintance."

"Oh, uh, not a whole a lot…just that she was with a new guy who was a hedgehog and that…he found her dead here or something. I don't even know what happened."

I remained silent, realizing that I hadn't thought about it that much; actually, I'd always made a point of _not_ thinking about it. That awful day, the day it happened, I was there--and while I didn't understand what was going on at the time, I'd never tried to make sense of it since. I didn't want to.

I was afraid of the answer.

Momma's sister pulled me from that dark corridor with a decidedly overdue gesture. "..Um, I'm Cedar the mouse. What's your name?"

It came out in a hoarse semi-whisper. "Mercury." I guess it was kind of rude to leave off the species, but I wasn't feeling up to the formality.

"Mercury?" she echoed, to my nod. "I'm sorry we didn't get to meet under better circumstances…but I'm glad to meet you all the same."

I sighed and glanced around the room. "So what are you gonna do with the stuff in here?"

"I'm not entirely sure yet, but for the time being I thought I'd clean it up and see what can be salvaged or whatever. I was trying to get the refrigerator outside so it could air out for a few days."

I glanced at the fridge. "…Want some help?"

"Sure, if you don't mind. Thank you!"

I spent the rest of the day there with Miss Cedar, going through everything in the house and deciding what would become of it, piece by piece. Some of it she packed to take home with her, some was thrown out, and some was cleaned up and left as a kind of memorial. We even worked in the garden, removing the weedy overgrowth and spreading out the wildflowers that had popped up over the years. Afterward, as the sun began to settle into the horizon, we sat resting and chatting under the oak tree.

For the most part she told me a little bit about herself and her past with Momma, but then, as the conversation advanced, she inevitably asked, "If you don't mind talking about it, do you know any more details about my sister's death, how exactly it happened?"

My teeth clenched. That again. I was quiet for what seemed like a long time while the bitter images revisited me. Momma lying drenched in blood; my being taken through the woods by Dad and Miss Amy, who turned out to be my real mother; Dad's disappearance and sudden illness…parts of it still didn't make sense, but the answer to her question, the answer I so greatly feared, screamed within me.

"I'm not sure," was all that finally came out.

Miss Cedar hung her head a bit, and the tip of her slender tail gently tapped an exposed root nearby. "Sorry, I'm sure she was like a mother to you. I hope I'm not being insensitive."

"If my sister died I'd want to know why too," I replied, and she nodded.

"Thanks for understanding." She looked like she was about to say something else when she suddenly flinched backward into the tree trunk, clapping her hands in front of her. "Stupid mosquitoes!" Then she scrambled to her feet, waving her tail to ward off any more of the insects. "I think that's my cue to head indoors for the night." I blinked up at her.

"Are you gonna sleep here?"

"Eh, I thought about it, but I think it'd be too uncomfortable, so I'm gonna see about finding some kind of lodging in town." She clapped again. "Anyway, thanks again for all your help, Mercury. It was nice getting to talk with you. I hope I can meet your dad someday as well."

I gripped the trunk and pulled myself up. "Good night, Miss Cedar."

"Good night!"

After she left, I hopped off the ledge and made my way back inside the house. In the growing dark, however, its nostalgic comfort disfigured into an eerie sense of oppression. My quills stood rigid, and I couldn't even venture beyond the dividing wall.

I was going to have to sleep somewhere else.

But where? I was all out of happy homes, and as if that wasn't depressing enough, a mist-like rain was beginning to descend on the area. I wandered the countryside with my eyes barely open, heading no direction in particular. Hours passed, and my legs eventually grew as weary as my mind. That's when I found the gazebo.

At least I think it was a gazebo, or it kind of resembled one. Whatever it was, it was made of tiny rocks and packed dirt, from top to bottom, and was obviously fashioned by an amateur hand. Under its roof the floor gently sloped downward to a hole in the center that was about the size of a beach ball. If nothing else, it looked drier than where I was standing, so I helped myself to its modest shelter. After the day I'd had it was almost a luxury to curl up and doze off on rock hard, dusty earth.

In my dreams Dad was nastier than ever, yelling and cussing and throwing things across the apartment that would smash loudly into the walls. Unable to escape his wrath, I huddled into a ball, tucking my face between my feet where I hoped it would be safe. In my upside-down view I saw him stomping over to me and rearing his foot back…and in the next instant I'd been punted into the air, jarred wide awake as I landed just outside the--gazebo?

I scrambled to my hands and knees in the pre-dawn dimness, incoherently scanning for him and seeking a route of escape at the same time. It wasn't long before I caught sight of a Mobian figure stepping around the structure toward me, after me. But it wasn't Dad, and I certainly wasn't dreaming anymore. As my attacker drew nearer, he pointed an enormous hand toward the gazebo and shouted an angry warning.

"Don't let me catch your mangy behind in there again!" But after that he suddenly stilled, staring in intent silence as I got to my feet. "..Wait," he called when I began to run, "hold up a second!" I made sure I was several feet away before pausing to turn back. He started forward, asking, "Aren't you…Shadow's kid?" He squinted, and I just stared at those gargantuan fists. "You are, aren't you?" Then he almost laughed. "Do you remember me?"

I took a step back. "No…."

"I know your parents. And I got to hold you once, when you were a baby." He cracked an almost proud smile and crossed his arms. "I can't believe how big you've gotten! Are you still…uh…I mean…uh, how's life been? And what'd they end up calling you?"

"…My name?"

"Yeah, I never got to find out what it was!"

"Mercury. Mercury the hedgehog," I decided to tack on the formality this time. Didn't want him angry again.

"Heh, so much for the suggestions, huh? I'm Knuckles the echidna. Hope I didn't knock you around too badly back there. I thought you were some kind of vandal punk!"

I finally cracked a smile of my own. "How do you know I'm not?"

That was the beginning of a conversation that lasted until the sun was well into the stratus-streaked sky. I told Mr. Knuckles some carefully selected details of my life, how I'd grown up with Dad and visited Mother on a fairly regular basis, and I informed him that I was hanging out in this area because Dad and I hadn't been getting along too well lately and Misty (who it turned out Mr. Knuckles also last saw as an infant) was being too much of a headache. He related some of his own life's problems and told me that he wished he could get away from it all too--but as guardian of the Master Emerald, it wasn't an option. He mentioned a girl he'd been seeing who wanted to be his mate but that he was obligated to choose only another echidna, hence the gazebo "nest" he'd built. He went on and on about some brotherhood that dictated his life choices, on and on to the point where I was about to fall asleep again. But then he came to a proposed conclusion.

"Tell you what," he offered, "I was always taught that it's best to face your problems instead of avoiding them, but looking at my own life, I'd be a big, fat hypocrite if I told you to do that, so how about we make a little deal? I'll face my girlfriend about this whole guardian lineage thing if you face your dad about whatever's got you two at odds. Sound good?"

We were sitting on top of the gazebo's roof at this point, where his body sprawled belly up across most of it and I perched on the edge with my legs hanging down. Sighing lightly, I stared at my feet for a few moments before answering.

"…I guess…."

'Guess nothin'!" he retorted, sitting upright. "You can't go through life making half-baked decisions! If you're going to do something, _go_ for it! All or nothing!" One of those monstrous hands swept symbolically before him. "Deal or no deal?" The hand came down before me, open, waiting. I blinked at it, considering his words, then nodded and slapped my hand over his.

"Okay, deal!"

Ready or not, Dad was in for some changes in his life.


	7. Shadow's Decision

Chapter 7 - Shadow's Decision

_Five days now_….

The words echoed to each corner of my mind with a nauseating air, filtering past my most consuming preoccupations to remind me of what I'd never forgotten. My eyes, searching, burning, could see nothing else as I traversed the outskirts of Mobius' Mystic Jungle. The fleeting hiss of incinerating Chaos seemed to replay with every sweep of my skates over the tropical terrain.

_It's been five days_….

With a firm composure and a sharp sigh, I forced the vexing concept from the forefront of my mind as I reached the crooked expanse of steps leading up to my destination. It was time to address another matter now. Slowly I started up, one step at a time, then bounded in typical spinning fashion the rest of the way.

At the top, I paused as a girl's maniacal laughter emanated from the workshop. Her voice went on to taunt, "I'd really rather our family physician look after little Zu-Zu if you don't mind!" It quickly became clear from the unnatural blasts that followed and the accompanying musical score that the commotion was nothing more than an action-intense TV show. As loudly as it was blaring, I saw little point in knocking on the workshop's front door; I knew I wouldn't be heard. Instead I reached for the rust-mottled trapezoid handle and found, to my mild disgust, that there wasn't a single lock engaged.

The door swung open with little effort, and the TV's resounding warfare met me in a new, less muffled wave of decibel fury. The moment triggered a brief but similar memory within in my subconscious, an experience from my early past…one in which I'd just entered some other kind of door, into another workshop of sorts, where a small monitor emitted the signature echoes of Chaos with an intensity not unlike what I was now experiencing. A familiar old man, I recalled, sat with his back to me in a weary slouch, leaning his folded arms onto the desk before him as he kept a steadfast eye on the screen just inches away. I knew immediately that he was Gerald--the man primarily responsible for my existence. He was reviewing one of the many taped sessions of the Chaos experiments in which I'd participated. It was a scene I had encountered numerous times throughout those months on the ARK, simple and ultimately meaningless and yet fond in its aura. I remembered his often being so engrossed in the video that I'd have to walk over and wave my hand in front of his face to get his attention.

…Enough of that.

Lifting my eyes from the reflection, I proceeded down the corridor and entered a large room on my right, finding a much different scene from that glimpsed in my vision. Partially disassembled rocket engines and hydraulic steering mechanisms lay strewn across tables and the floor, in carefully organized piles. Tools of painstaking precision rested on Dymo-labeled shelves. Underneath the nose of a twin-passenger jet, reaching his arms into its massive rectangular nostril, was the individual I'd come to find. It seemed his attention was frequently torn between his work and the TV across the room.

I wasn't about to approach him as casually as I had Gerald; instead, I mimicked the animated characters on screen by producing a small streak of flames from my hand. Of course, mine was dark and harbored Chaotic essence, unlike real fire. It blazed across the room and instantly dissolved as it landed at Tails' feet.

"Wah!!" he yelped, jumping back, then quickly spotting me. "Shadow!" His breathless words broke into laughter, "Wow, man, you scared the daylights out of me! For a second there I thought that came from the TV!" He jogged to a table a few feet away and set down his pliers, which returned a dull thud on the surface's rubbery lining. At the same time his other hand retrieved a nearby DVD remote and mashed a button to pause his show. "So what can I do for you? Are you here about Cedar?" He reached back to replace the remote without another look and hurried to close the distance between us.

"No," I answered bluntly, lifting the hand that clutched the crinkly orange bag. Tails became somewhat more reserved in his approach but did not hesitate to accept the gift when I extended it toward him. "Someone asked me to give this to you," I promptly explained. A few moments of silence passed as he parted the fold of the attached card. It wasn't long before he jerked his head back up.

"Wh-who gave you this??" he stammered, looking more shaken now than when I shot fire at his feet.

"A tanuki who works at the mall." All I received in response to that was a rather blank stare, so I filled in the blank. "She asked me to get an answer."

He blinked. "Oh, uh, sure! Tell her thanks, and I'll be sure to give her a call."

Having accomplished my sideline mission, I nodded and exited the workshop the way I'd come in, hearing Tails' TV resume its firefight once I was back outside. Now, I mused to myself, it was time to focus on what I'd really come to do.

_It's almost been a week after all_….

The morning sun crept overhead as I traveled familiar paths, in the psychological as well as physical sense. Long-suppressed memories, and the emotions that haunted their tattered fragments, surfaced with the sights and sounds of the region. They twisted my disposition to match with morbid semblance the physique of the menacing oak that soon perched before me.

My line of sight followed the tree's protruding roots down the short but steep earthen wall through which they wove, until I took in an object that stood largely out of place at the bottom. Its door propped wide open and its shelves having been cleared out and wiped clean, the off-white vintage refrigerator served as a silent source of reassurance that my trip had not been in vain. I strode past it to the door of the home I'd once called my own. Forcing it open with a single stroke, I peered in down one side of the dividing wall, then the other. As expected, the dwelling had undergone many obvious signs of cleanup. Slowly, warily, I stepped forward across the living room into the kitchen, where I leaned to see around the corner. Finding no one, I made my way back to the front and proceeded to venture to the other half of the home. Now it was the silence that roared in my ears, disturbed only by my hollow footsteps and the floorboards that creaked beneath them. I continued into the bathroom, and then the bedroom, where the home's trademark musty stench hung especially thick. A sigh filtered out as I glanced over the neatly made bed. Whether it was more out of resolve or relief, I can't honestly say.

I returned to the kitchen at an increasing pace and jerked open a tight wooden drawer just below the counter by the sink. A pad of paper and several writing instruments slid forth, just as ugly as I remembered them. I plucked the pad and a pen out and brought them to the dining table. After scribbling loops across the bumblebee-bordered page until the ink began to show, I composed a message intended to do nothing more than urge a meeting, face to face. Written sentiments simply wouldn't be enough at this point…though one in particular nagged its warrant. It waited, now that my request was inscribed, to flow next from the pen's tip, but my hand refused to proceed. Several seconds passed in motionless silence, until my eyes wandered from the page onto the abyssal stain consuming nearly two feet of the floor. Then the words resounded in my mind, as if whispering to me from the dried blood itself….

……_I'm sorry_….

They reached me on a particularly deep and vivid level, as if I could…actually…hear…….

And I blinked and looked up, my grip on the pen having grown as stiff as my quills were at that moment. I swallowed and released a breath I hadn't realized I was holding, and I took a step back from the table. That would do. The pen clattered down beside the pad in the wake of my exit.

Outside, my lungs gratefully took in their crippled fill of fresh air. I squinted as I peered skyward, noting the sun's shift off the eastern side. There wasn't much time left today. It'd be about five o'clock by the time I got home, which would leave at best an hour's rest before work. I scowled as I began the journey, beginning to question under the circumstances whether the point had been rendered moot.

Things made no sign of improving from there. Half of what would have been my spare time wound up spent at customs of the world portal, where officials of both ends struggled to correlate and correct the records in their systems that still listed me as either wanted or deceased. I was left with just over thirty minutes upon arriving home, but I don't suppose it mattered, considering my subconscious allowed me nothing more than a superficial guise of rest at this point. I drank a glass of water and sat brooding for about two minutes before I was back out the door.

My growing fatigue must have been apparent by the time I entered the Diamond Mill Mall security office, judging by the additional disgust in Nancee's expression. An older human woman best known for her sour demeanor and the taut bun that always topped her faded orange curls, she was the alleged receptionist of the security department who, for whatever reason, had clearly despised me since we'd first had the displeasure of meeting. As was typical, after making the face she resumed her work as if I wasn't there. That was fine with me. I continued past her desk in like regard, exhaling as I did so to avoid her overburnt cigarette stench.

As I passed through the second door into the muster area I glanced to my left to observe Randy, the security manager, pluck an oatmeal raisin cookie from a white cardboard box on the table before returning to his office. He was always easily identified amongst the rest of the staff because his daily work attire consisted of a long-sleeve buttoned up shirt, cotton tie, and dress slacks rather than the humans' security guard uniform. Far more telling, though, was the gleam of his stress-indicative bald spot. I could see the overhead sprinkler's reflection in it as I followed him into his office.

Randy exhaled with a middle-aged groan as he began to turn and ease into his oversized leather seat. He realized I was in the room with him about halfway down and paused in a startled flinch.

"Shadow!" He came down a bit faster, bobbing as he landed on its spring-loaded shock absorption, then quickly rolled forward and set his hands flat on his desk. "What can I do for you?"

"I…" A couple of seconds ticked by on his wall clock as I considered my words, then finished, "…I need the rest of this week off." It was what I'd decided en route would be the best course of action.

His tone shifted at that, in what I assume was meant to resemble an air of concern. "You do? Is everything okay? There some kind of emergency?"

_Not yet_, my mind answered, _though at this rate it's only a matter of_-

"No," I cut off the thought. "There's something I need to take care of."

Randy brought his elbows up until they were propped before him and clasped his hands apologetically. "I hate to turn you down, Shadow, but I can't just grant you personal leave like that when you've only been here a few weeks. You have to earn it over time and then put in for it in advance so I can schedule someone to fill in for you." About this point Nancee barged in and headed to the filing cabinets in the corner, where she proceeded to stuff some manila folders into an already overcrowded drawer. I cursed myself for not having had the presence of mind to close the door, but Randy was unfazed, continuing, "But I'll tell you what; if you can find another officer who's willing to swap hours with you, I can accommodate you that way if it'd be any help."

"Switching the hours to the other half of the day isn't going to make any difference," I remarked. He merely shrugged his thumbs.

"I'm sorry, but unless you've got some leave time accumulated to use, that's about all I can do for you." He'd barely finished the sentence when I walked out of the office. No sense continuing to discuss matters when he obviously wasn't going to cooperate. I clocked myself in and started heading for my locker when I overheard Nancee's tinny voice, hushed but still easily discernable.

"He's got a lot of nerve wanting time off when he hasn't even been here a month. And then when you try to offer an alternative that might help, which you didn't have to do, he starts getting an attitude, like that's not good enough. He thinks he's so special, like he's supposed to get to do whatever he wants, just because he's one of those animal people. Makes me sick."

"Well, y'know," Randy replied, a bit harder for me to make out, "he does a good job and all, but he's gonna have to learn that that's not how we do things around here."

_Think what you want, Hag Hair._

I opened my locker and retrieved a cloth band bearing the security emblem: my uniform. Obviously there were some differences in how I was treated compared to the other officers, but it was never due to any demand on my part. My scowl deepened at the notion that the individual with the most wretched attitude of the entire staff was complaining about mine. After taking a moment to wrap the band around my left arm and mash down its Velcro end, I shoved the locker shut and headed out into the mall.

In order to maintain a constant "presence" throughout the premises, security department procedures required officers to relieve one another at certain designated locations near areas with the highest patron traffic, called hotspots. My hotspot was typically referred to as Subway, after the restaurant of the same name that defined the mall's southwest corner. I almost always relieved an older man named Oscar, tall and boney with thinning bluish-gray hair and bags under his eyes, who would stand jangling the coins in his pocket while waiting for me to show. He didn't have to wait long today.

"Wuuh-aah!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms up and bracing for potential impact as I skidded to a rather ungraceful halt before him. I wasn't in the mood for much else. Regaining his composure quickly enough, Oscar played down his reaction with a tense joke. "You trying to kill me?!"

I gazed past him toward the rest of the food court. "If I were you'd be dead." Maria had always said I needed to learn how to take a joke.

"Why you in such a hurry? Something wrong or you just feelin' hyper?"

"Nothing that concerns you." Everyone was getting on my nerves today.

"Okay, just askin'; no need to be short," Oscar muttered, his dentures starting to slip. I blinked and directed my eyes his way as he nudged the slimy plates back into place. Rather than dwell on irrelevant details, I got down to business.

"Have you got anything for me?"

"Ahh, nothin' really. There was a kid who was lost this morning, but his parents came and got him after a couple minutes." He didn't notice my jaw tighten as he went on, "I think I've been playing janitor more than anything today. Heh, I oughta do that when I retire." A few seconds of silence passed while he was probably waiting for me to say something, but by then I was back to treading my own sea of thoughts. "So, uh, you all good to go here?" he finally asked.

"…Yeah." I set the communication device on my wrist to security department frequency. Oscar waited for me to finish, then nodded.

"Okay, well, I'm gonna head on back to the office, then. You take care." With that he left, knowing better than to expect anything more from me. I likewise departed in the opposite direction, straight into the hungry heart of the food court.

The dinner crowd had mostly cleared out by this point. I glanced over the tables and each restaurant's counter as I strode by, realizing as the intermingling aromas met me that I hadn't eaten since I last got off work. My blood was crawling like a legion of ants, as if angry at its lack of nourishment. I had long since past mistakes made a point of ensuring my body catered to my will, however, not the other way around. Continuing on, I peered into Chick-Fil-A, then Milky Way Treats, then El Gyro, managing the last with just the horrid timing to make eye contact with that irritating muskrat Serrah, one of its employees who wanted to chat _every single time_ she saw me. I immediately looked away, but it was too late.

"Hey, Shadow!" she called, even though I was several feet away and she had a customer. I kept walking, returning no acknowledgement. "Shaaaaaaadoooow!" The baying soon faded into the collective racket of the area as I left it behind me. Similarly, the enticing odors gave way to one far more prominent as I turned the corner, bringing to mind the morning's secondary mission—and another annoying girl.

It had been a while since she asked. I'd had every intention of completing the task, but I was so caught up in my own cares that it didn't have much of a priority. Now that I was finally approaching The Nut House with something to report, Trixie was no longer watching for me. She'd exchanged her silly, scatterbrained expression for the usual look of boredom, apparently having already given up on ever seeing the request fulfilled. Part of me found that a bit insulting, but at the same time, I couldn't entirely blame her.

She was wrestling with dishes in a tiny steel sink when I approached the counter, so I spoke loudly enough to ensure she'd hear me over them. "He said yeah." At that point she looked up, her face particularly blank.

"Say wha?"

So much for being loud enough. "He said yeah."

"Who said yeah?"

"Tails the fox," I clarified, impatience building in my voice. He was all she ever talked about since see saw him, yet she couldn't figure out who I meant? Since she was obviously on the wrong wavelength, I spelled it out for her. "He answered your note."

That certainly did the trick. The moment those words had left my mouth, she was already at the counter, soapy water dripping from her hands.

"_Really?!_" In a frenzy she whisked off her apron and began wiping it in curly Qs across the counter. "W-what else did he say??"

I brushed a speck of soap suds from my arm before answering. "..He asked me to thank you and said that he'll be in touch."

"That's it?"

"That's more than sufficient."

She bit her lip to stifle a sheepish laugh. "I know, just…! Hee hee! I'm so excited!! Thank you so much!"

The next thing I knew she was on my side of the counter, enclosing me in a tight embrace. I had to bend my neck at an unnatural angle to keep her fur from going up my nose. Unpleasant as it was, it was still the most encouraging part of my day.

_About time you did something right._

When she finished she hopped back over the counter and looked around the shop. "Augh, I'm too excited to stay in here! I've gotta close up and go home!"

"Suit yourself," I mumbled, having already turned away to continue my rounds.

The rest of the night dragged horrendously, despite my having far too much on my mind. By five o' clock I was overspent, more so than I care to admit. It wasn't as though I hadn't gone longer without rest; it was dragging the weight of my conscience that was wearing me down. As much as I hated to do so, upon leaving work I had to do it. I had to sleep.

The apartment was completely dark when I arrived, and I kept it that way. In silence I wandered over to the living room couch, raking video games and DVDs off with a few blind strokes before taking a seat.

_Being here is better_…_just in case_….

In the next instant another memory began to play through my mind, of three-year-old Mercury scampering to my side in oblivious glee as I lay on Amy's couch, near death. It hadn't been but five years ago, and it still devoured me like entwined augers. I'd caused him immeasurable pain with my rash decisions, and now……….

I came down hard on my side, grinding my face into a throw pillow and forcing the thoughts from my mind. It had been a long day, followed by a long night, and this was the last thing I needed. Now it was time to rest, and to wait. If nothing came of the day, at least I'd be in better condition for work. In all likelihood, though, I'd be receiving some kind of contact.

And, as it turned out, I did receive contact that day. It just wasn't who I expected.

To start off, I'd made the mistaken assumption that Trixie would be out of my quills for a while, only to be approached by her again first thing that evening. She evidently failed to notice that I was busy assessing the tension between two groups of human adolescents that were trolling through the food court. Leaning into my field of vision, she blurted out something in Russian or Chinese and started prattling about a gift basket or the like. I was trying to tune her out, so I'm not quite sure what she said. But I didn't ignore her.

"…Hmph," I breathed in response. That was my personal language, which translates into '_Shut the hell up and get out of the way_.' Out of the countless dialects she seemed to know, however, mine obviously wasn't among them.

"I've been doing some thinking," she went on, "and I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go out with my sister sometime. She's a single parent just like you, and her daughter is the same age as your son. I'll introduce you to her next time she's here, 'kay? I think you'd get along good; she's kinda emo like you too…no offense!"

I was semi-listening at that point, having heard mention of my son. Just as I'd shifted enough attention to make eye contact, another familiar voice detoured the conversation.

"Well! Long time no see!"

I knew who it was well before I turned around. Nevertheless, my eyes flared at the sight I took in. It was Rouge, all right, but she…she looked deplorable. It was the worst I'd ever seen her--not that she appeared physically harmed or anything of that nature, but an unmistakable streak of distress tainted her otherwise confident demeanor. Something was wrong.

"Got a minute to spare?" she asked, her tone decidedly frivolous, but again I was denied the chance to respond.

"Um, excuse me," Trixie addressed her, "we were talking." In the brief silence that followed I could feel myself begin to tense; Rouge wasn't one to tolerate any kind of interference once she had her mind set on something, and Trixie struck me as packing just the unstable edge that could set her off. I was prepared to quell any violence that might erupt, but Rouge opted for a more passive-aggressive route.

"Shouldn't you be getting back to The Nuthouse?" she quipped, at the same time taking hold of my arm and giving it a light tug. Considering the potentially urgent nature of her visit, I didn't resist.

Trixie stared quietly as I glanced back and told her, simply, "I'll be back." At least she had enough sense to keep her peace, though I could feel her eyes on us as we ventured back toward the food court.

And then there was Serrah. I'd managed to elude her on my way through earlier, but this time she spotted me and, like clockwork, leaned eagerly under a plastic sign that read PICK UP hanging over the right side of the El Gyro counter.

"Hey, Sha-!!" she trailed off abruptly, blinking with wide eyes as she caught sight of Rouge. I never looked her way directly but could make out her gape in my peripheral vision, which was not unlike Trixie's just moments ago. I wasn't going to be hearing the end of this anytime soon.

Between The Nuthouse, El Gyro, and the rowdy teenagers, there weren't many locations suitable for a private conversation. Silently I urged Rouge to head for the northwest corner, known as the newsstand hotspot. It would have to do. Crossing my arms and backing myself against the nearest wall, I hoped she'd cut right to the chase.

"I have a favor to ask of you," she began. Well cut. "I need a Mobian to accompany me on a surveillance mission next week, and I'd like you to come."

I cast a wary gaze upon her face, which still embodied the turbulent snarl of emotions beneath its flirty front. "Why me?"

"I need someone who's sharp, perceptive, ready to take on the worst case scenario. Who's a better fit than the ultimate life form?"

Whatever she stood to gain, she wanted it badly.

"When?" I pressed on.

"It's flexible; any day next week should do, but it needs to go down at dusk."

My conscience was quick to interject an important question: _Isn't there something else you should be tending to?_ Suddenly I felt crowded in that corner. I was under no obligation to her, but I did have a job to do. If she wanted my help, she was going to have to proceed on my terms.

"I don't want this becoming a habit," I stated, forcing past her to continue my rounds. Wisely, she took no issue with trailing after me.

"It won't," she insisted, "but will you help me out this once? I'll be sure to make it worth your while…."

_What could she possibly do to make it worth_….

I came to a halt as another concept then appealed to me. She could return the favor, I realized, by serving as my eyes and ears, by being there when I could not. However, if circumstances were to change in the near future, these arrangements could prove counterproductive. I needed to wait and see.

My answer aimed to buy some more time. "I'll be in touch." Rouge seemed satisfied enough.

"I knew I could count on you," she chirped in a laudatory farewell, allowing me to continue on alone. After several steps and a brief glance behind me to ensure she had really gone, I returned my attention to my duties at hand.

This time around, _she_ finally noticed me. I was nearing Kay Jewelers, my eyes skimming along the rows of tidy glass counters, when I observed Raye sliding one of them closed, just before she straightened up and met my gaze. Immediately she greeted me--not with an obnoxious shout or imposing request, but with a warm, inviting smile. I returned a single nod, then broke eye contact and continued on my way. It wasn't as if anything more could come of it…but it brightened an otherwise bleak night nonetheless.

For a second or two, at least.

"Was that girl your ex?" Trixie asked, suddenly pacing beside me.

"_No!_" I snapped, daring her with a seething glare to even consider starting up rumors. All she did was laugh.

"I was about to say! No wonder you broke up!"

Mounting fury ground between my teeth as I beheld her in that moment, half inclined to inquire just what the hell that was supposed to mean. This time I caught myself, taming the urge with my underlying determination to avoid fueling such behavior. Instead I mimicked Rouge's approach.

"Don't you ever watch your store?" I remarked with an indifferent face forward. The once energetic tanuki visibly shrank away.

"Meh. Not like it's going anywhere…."

"Your merchandise might be," I mashed the button deeper.

Her tone then assumed a cheerier, almost patronizing pitch. "With you on the job, I ain' got nothin' to worry about!" Then, unexpectedly, she pranced away, back to her shop. I found myself somewhat taken aback that the tactic had not only worked but worked so well. In fact, she hardly said another word to me the rest of the week. Good riddance…I had issues of actual importance to think about.

Unfortunately, merely thinking was doing little to improve matters. After another few days had passed with no new developments, I traveled back to Maple's farm. All was exactly as I had left it—not a good sign. I followed up with Rouge that evening.

One of the accessories I had received from the Guardian Unit of Nations during my participation in its Soleanna-vicinity rescue mission was a communications device, about the size of a wristwatch and worn like one. Its specialized frequency could travel via any cel phone tower or military relay station to contact another agent anywhere in the world, at government expense.

Rouge's surprise sputtered across the unit's pinhole speaker as she answered my call. "Shadow?? Y-you mean you still have your comms band?!"

My brow shifted. "They never asked for it back."

"Well that would've been nice to know when I was looking for you earlier! I went through a lot of trouble for nothing!"

"…Did you still need a partner for your assignment?"

She sighed sharply. "Yes, but something else has come up, so now the only day I can go on _that_ mission is Saturday. Will Saturday work for you?"

"Yes."

"Good. Meet me at the world portal at five thirty, and I'll show you the way from there."

"Five thirty."

"Right. See you then! And…Shadow?" There was an unusual pause on her end as I waited with my finger hovering over the button I was about to press to end the call. Then she asked, "Are you there?"

"What is it?" Everyone was trying my patience lately.

"I just wanted to say…thanks, for being there and everything."

I blinked, having been caught a bit off guard. "…I'm sure you'd have done the same." She returned a delicate laugh.

"Well, see you Saturday. Stay out of trouble!" A crimp of static shortly after marked the connection's close.

I looked up from where I'd been pacing through my living room, my gaze inevitably trailing to the shattered plaster along the wall where the media center once stood.

_How many days has it been now? Nine? Ten?_

The remnants of the casing and possessions in it had long since been cleared out, but a subtle glare from the carpet caught my eye, a tiny fragment I'd missed. I stared in contemplative silence for a while before approaching to retrieve it, and as I stooped and reached I paused again, finding it to be another piece of the purplish-black glass that had riddled the entire mess. It was peculiar because I didn't recall owning anything of that color, and yet, it seemed somehow familiar.

_Worried about something the size of a pinhead, while something enormous gets neglected_….

Of course, my mind prodded about more than the physical damage. At the time, however, I felt I had no other viable option but to wait. No matter how much I loathed it, I couldn't afford to be rash.

The wall, on the other hand, got spackled, sanded, and painted that week. The final off-white coat was still drying Friday afternoon when there was a knock at my door. I flinched back from the open refrigerator, unsure for a moment whether I'd really heard it. The sound was unmistakable, though. My breaths ran shallow as I ventured from the kitchen.

_Just what is it you're afraid of?_

The door's peephole was too high for me to use without something to stand on, so, in typical fashion, I simply swung it open.

It wasn't who I anticipated. It was worse.

It was Amy.

"Hi, Shadow," she spoke softly. "Mind if I come in for a second?" She waited as I stepped back from the door and pulled it wide with a stiff arm before she proceeded to enter. "I tried to call earlier, but you never answered your phone, as usual," she added, turning to face me with a teasing half-smile. Then she sniffed the air. "It smells like paint in here. You doing some remodeling?"

"Something like that," I replied, inwardly relieved at her lighthearted demeanor and the ignorance it conveyed.

"Ah, that's nice." She stepped into the living room and glanced around while I shut the door. "Where's Mercury?"

I froze for a moment with my hand still on the knob. My back remained to her as I answered as plainly as I could manage, "He's out." She deserved to know…just not yet.

"Oh. Well, I just stopped by to ask you about something really quick." She stood smoothing a hand over a stray wrinkle on the form-fitting contour of her dress, seemingly deep in thought. Rather than join her, I walked opposite the living room back into the kitchen, opening the fridge again. I was hungry.

"Go ahead," I relayed over my shoulder. When I turned back to her with yesterday's leftover dinner in hand, she was seated at the island bar that divided the two rooms.

"I was wondering," she approached her matter meekly, hesitating to continue, "if you happened to see Rouge the bat at the mall recently."

I had just set my bowl on the island and peeled the plastic cover off, and now my hands hovered over it, crumpling the wrap slowly as I studied her face. The last time she'd brought up Rouge in a conversation, it was because Rouge had attempted to sabotage her relationships with both me and Sonic. Hearing Amy mention her again did nothing to settle the unease in my stomach. I drew a steady breath as anxious eyes jumped up to mine, awaiting an answer.

"She came and spoke with me there, yes."

Her hands unfolded, brushing an idle crumb off the counter, and before she began to speak again my attention directed suddenly to the diamond-laden band on her finger. "What'd she say?" her inquiry beckoned me back on track. "I mean, did she say anything about me…or Sonic?"

"She didn't mention you at all." I couldn't blame her for being paranoid. Even upon hearing this, however, there was little relief in her sigh.

"…I'm asking because I ran into her yesterday, and she…said some weird stuff…."

My brow cocked sharply. "Like what?"

"Like…well, she saw Sonic out at the mall and thought that he was cheating on me with some girl who works out there is basically what happened. I went out there today to talk to the girl and, you know, check it out for myself, and, of course, he wasn't really cheating, but I found out that Rouge had been talking to you too, so I just thought I'd…check with you on that…." A new trace of worry crossed her features as she glanced back up and noted my deepening frown. "But she didn't tell you anything related to that, right?"

"No…." My hands lay flat on the counter while the details turned over in my mind. The more I thought about it, the less the situation made sense, and I found myself questioning again just how emotionally distraught Rouge had been that day. In the past I'd seen her make irrational decisions when she was upset, but even in that frame of mind, she wasn't the type to simply go around making up accusations or doing people favors. "It's not like her," I eventually muttered aloud.

"What's not like her?"

"To jump to conclusions. She's normally a stickler for details."

Amy's expression faltered. "You mean…you think Sonic really was…."

"Not necessarily," I cut her off. "It all comes down to Rouge's motive, how she intends to benefit from what she's told you. She wants something out of this."

"But…it's not like I have anything she…wait!" Bringing up her hands, Amy grasped at the one bearing the ring as if it needed extra support to sustain the weight. "My ring! Sonic was buying me a wedding ring for our anniversary when she saw him! You think she could be after that?"

I glanced its seven stones over and shook my head. "I don't think she would expect to acquire it if you were to divorce."

"Hm, that's true." She sank back against the high-top backing of the stool. "I don't know what else she'd possibly want from me, though."

We were both silent for a moment, pondering possible ulterior motives over the odor of chilled sweet and sour shrimp. My hands moved together behind the dish, turning inward until my fingertips touched.

"Do you know of any reason she might have cause to hold a grudge against you or Sonic?" I inquired finally. "Is she angry with anyone you know?" Amy's breath stilled in reflection.

"…Not…really…except maybe Knuckles…but I don't see what that'd have to do with us. It's not like we encouraged him to break up with her."

"Knuckles broke up with her?"

"That's what they told me at the mall."

My eyes flared. "Who?"

"That girl I went to talk to, her tanuki friend told me." I was probably almost gaping as she went on, "She'd gone on a date with Tails, and he's the one who told her." She managed an airy laugh. "Small world, huh?"

If nothing else, it certainly explained what had had Rouge so unsettled. My brow cinched with all the directions my thoughts spiraled from that information. Not even I knew Rouge well enough to deem those notions any more than speculation, though. There was really no telling what she was up to at this point.

Not that Amy seemed too concerned anymore. "Gosh, I'd better get home before I start getting texts from Iris about not having anything to eat!" She slid off her seat and backed toward the door a bit. "Thanks for talking with me about this, Shadow. You'll let me know if you find out anything, won't you?"

I granted a nod. "I will."

"Thanks. And tell Mercury hi and to come visit soon, okay?" By now she was at the door, reaching up to give her quills a quick contour before proceeding on. "Bye! Don't be a stranger!" She'd pulled the door open for only a second before she suddenly slammed it back shut, spinning about to face me with wide eyes. "I just saw Rouge!!"

I sprang over in an instant. "Where?" When she pulled the door open this time, we both peered out.

"She's gone now," Amy noted. "She was looking down this way from up there!" I followed the direction of her finger toward the roof of a neighboring building in the complex, my teeth clenched under a deep-set scowl.

"..You're sure it was her?"

"Yeah, definitely! You think she's following me??"

"If you see her again," I instructed, "I want you to ignore her. Don't acknowledge her presence in the slightest. I'll take care of it." Amy nodded quickly.

"O-okay…."

With that I saw her off, casting one more wary glance to the rooftop before shutting the door. "I've just about had it with your games," I warned under my breath.

Work that night was quieter than usual for a Friday; it seemed everyone could sense from the intensity of my glower that it would not be wise to press my buttons. That countenance had barely improved by the next afternoon, as I stood on the MRT boarding platform in the world gateway station. I coupled it with a disdainful snort when Rouge showed.

She tilted her head and offered a tight-lipped smile as she approached. "Hi," her voice lifted in carefree couth. "I see you're eager to get started."

"Actually I am," I professed as I turned toward the tracks.

"Mmm, that's what I like to hear."

The next train thundered in the closing distance, and with Rouge standing there beside me I felt, for a split second, an ominous sense of dé jà vu. I was quick to blink it off.

"Where are we heading from here?"

"There's an outdoor plaza near Angel Island where I've made dinner reservations. I'll explain the rest once we get there." The train then coasted to a halt before us, and we headed for the last set of open doors. "Hope you're hungry."

About thirty minutes later, few passengers got off at our stop. We exited the train straight into the heart of the plaza, where I couldn't help but notice something in particular about the bustling crowd: Almost everyone here was an echidna. Countless eyes followed us as Rouge hooked my arm and led me in a confident route down the cobblestone walkway.

"I take it you come here with Knuckles a lot," I remarked, feigning casual ignorance. Rouge didn't respond right away, but a half-smile crept up her lips.

"I used to. He's got his high and mighty guardianship to attend to, though, so he'd rather be around that Master Emerald than me. --Of course, if _I_ had to choose between him and the emerald, I'd choose the emerald too!" She let out a weak laugh, moments after which her face darkened considerably.

Along the eastern side of the plaza, we arrived at an eatery that boasted an ancient jungle theme. All of the seating was outside among tall stakes bearing tiki torches, which were being lit for the night as we were shown to our table. Angel Island loomed a relatively short distance away; I was certain that the restaurant, if not the entire plaza, had to be in full view of anyone who happened to be up there.

The host, a dark gray echidna, clasped his hands after issuing our menus. "Your waiter will be with you in just a moment," he stated in a formal air, excusing himself with a partial bow. Rouge glanced over her shoulder, as well as toward the floating island.

"It's really packed here tonight," she marveled of the other diners as she flipped open her menu. I remained silent, watching as she skimmed through the appetizers for several seconds before she noticed. "Oh, you're probably wondering what our objective is here." Her expression was slightly sheepish as she looked past me, appearing to search for someone. "There," her voice hushed, and she gestured to my right with a quick nod. "That waiter is the man we're here to watch. He's suspected of selling stolen government property to certain regulars who come after sunset." The waiter she spoke of was another echidna, forest green with thin, stiff quills. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"And you don't think we stand out here?"

She shrugged. "Sure we do, but what's the matter with a couple of tourists? May as well enjoy ourselves while we're at it!"

She was still grinning to herself when the waiter she'd singled out visited our table.

"Welcome to Deep Marjimba," he said. "My name's Marx, and I'll be serving you this evening. Can I start you two off with a couple of our exclusive durian cocktails?"

Rouge spoke up first. "Actually, I think I'd like a cherry daiquiri." Marx jotted it down on his pad.

"All right, and you, sir?"

"Just some water," I answered, scanning the area behind him for Rouge's _real_ target.

"Very well. I'll have those right out for you," he recited with a genial nod. Once he'd made his brisk departure for the kitchen, Rouge leaned in.

"This is going on the business tab. You sure you don't want something else to drink?"

Rather than look up, I simply leered at the list of entrees while I continued to review it. "If I'd wanted something else I would have ordered it."

"Okay, just making sure," she uttered somewhat defensively. "What about appetizers, you up for any of those?" My eyes jumped to the opposite side of the fold.

"…Maybe the pepper-stuffed mushrooms."

"I've tried those before, and they're a little too spicy for me. How about the black and blue corn chips with spinach artichoke dip?"

"Fine."

We sat primarily commenting and deciding on food in a similar manner until Marx returned with the drinks and we placed our orders. After that there was a stretch of silence while Rouge glanced attentively about and I withdrew into long-receded memories. I seemed to be triggering a number of those lately.

Once, years ago, I took Mercury to a restaurant called Rainforest Café, which in certain ways resembled the place I was at now, only with the addition of mechanically controlled animals and thunderstorms. He was only two at the time, and the dramatic displays proved too much for him. Whenever the elephants would start to bellow or imitation thunder crashed overhead, he'd be under the table, clinging to my leg as if his life depended on it. By the time I'd have him coaxed back out it'd start up again.

He trusted in me back then, to protect him. And now….

And now Rouge was staring at me. "So," she forced an awkward new conversation, "how's the kid?"

"Actually…" I somewhat sighed, "…I was hoping you could tell me."

"What do you mean?"

I considered my words. "He hasn't been home in almost two weeks now…and seeing that my own efforts are being hindered by the demands of my job, I could use a hand tracking him down."

"But," she struggled to understand, "he's about the right age to be getting out on his own, isn't he? Why do you feel the need to find him?"

"I have my reasons."

There was a hint of hesitation in her eyes, but she soon nodded. "All right. I'll use my resources to help you find your son, and we'll consider it a favor repaid."

"Right." I leaned back and took a lingering sip of water, feeling a bit more peace of mind. I began to consider telling her more, possibly even seeking an opinion, but in my silverware's reflection I could see Marx nearing with a tray in hand. Rouge, too, had noticed and altered her conduct accordingly.

"Okay," the harried echidna panted, setting the tray at the end of our table and placing the appetizer between us, "who had the spinach ravioli?"

"That'd be me," Rouge answered in a much more engaging tone. "And while you're here, I'd like to order another drink."

"Sure, what would you like?"

"Mmm," she pondered with a fingertip to her lips, "would you happen to have tequila?"

"As a matter of fact, we just started serving that last month," his eyes fought to remain on the dishes as he spoke until he'd safely transferred both. "Our version is just like the Earth kind, only ours has more worms."

She grinned wide enough to expose both fangs. "Sounds great."

"Very well. Is there anything else I can get you two?" With no further requests for him, he nodded and slipped the tray under his arm. "I'll be right back."

Once he was out of sight, Rouge directed her smile at me. "Can't leave him with too much free time, now can we?" Her straw slurped the last of her daiquiri as I glanced up from my pineapple salmon.

"What do you intend to do if you get what you came for?" I inquired between bites.

"Milk it for all it's worth, of course." One would think she was talking about a coconut, as sweet as her voice sounded at that moment. In contrast, her fork raked like beastly claws across her green pasta. "That's why I love my job. There are lots of restrictions, but the benefits _far_ outweigh them," she assumed a more passionate edge. It seemed the alcohol was already having an impact.

She was still making suggestive comments when Marx returned with the tequila, and as she downed it throughout the meal they progressed from comments into half her life's story. Keeping track of the waiter appeared the furthest from her mind as she rambled thought to thought. "…But it's the impression people get, and I can see how they'd get that impression, that makes them end up treating me that way, and I know I'm not really like that, and you know I'm not like that, but they don't know until I show them, but then why should I have to show them, right? I'm not obligated to prove myself!" Her voice was noticeably louder than it needed to be, earning her occasional glances from surrounding diners. I'd stopped replying long ago; even when I had managed to fit the words in edgewise she'd either respond on the completely wrong page or as though she hadn't heard me at all. Instead I simply listened in relatively detached silence. "But I don't really care about all that," she carried on, "because people are gonna say and think whatever they want. I don't really care what people think, because it's what I think that matters in the end. But, what really gets to me, what really is just a _slap in my face_…" her volume suddenly tapered off, so low that I found myself leaning in with renewed interest, "…is when everything is good and, you know how it is when you think you have something a certain way," and she leaned in as well, shaking a rigid finger at me, "and then somebody comes along and just _screws it up_ for you, takes it away, just because they can. That is just the biggest, dirtiest, most rotten, underhanded…." she trailed off huffing through tightly interlocked enamel, straining even in her borderline inebriation to contain the rage that threatened to burst out.

"Who's done this to you?" I ventured.

She snorted a laugh. "Why, you wanna go settle the score? Beat 'em up?" She didn't wait for me to answer before she slouched into more giggles. "That's what I've always liked about you, Shadow. The world craps all over you and you still fight for justice. And you're not afraid to make your own justice. You're a truly special guy, and I for one think you deserve better." Stuffing a piece of ravioli in her mouth, she fell silent for a minute, and I watched her amusement melt solemn as she chewed. "You know," she began again, barely audible, "I don't know if I'll be able to fix my own life, but I think that if we work together we can fix yours. Amy never would have left you if it hadn't been for Sonic's meddling, but we can help her see that you're the one who truly deserves her." She leaned closer and cupped a gentle hand to my cheek as I sat speechless. "And I truly believe you do."

I could only stare back at her the next few seconds, too stunned to say anything. Part of me wondered just how much the alcohol was doing the talking, but it was clear that she hadn't made it up. In the next breath something caught my eye; it felt as though everything was reduced to slow motion as I lunged backward, just in time to evade a massive fist that burst through the table where my face had been. Nearby diners scrambled for safety, and as I leapt out of my seat Rouge clutched the hand that had also narrowly escaped harm, screaming the assailant's name. "_Knuckles!!_"

"You keep away from my girl!" he shouted above the commotion. The table thrashed violently as he struggled to free his hand, refusing to give way until he propped his foot on top and tore it out with a growling heave. He was certainly strong, but I wasn't about to be intimidated.

Chaos flared about my fists. "You dare to challenge me?" The reason was irrelevant. I waited to allow him the next move; either he would back down now or face my full wrath. That was when Rouge stepped between us--looking awfully amused.

"Hold it, settle down, boys! There's no reason to fight!" Her head turned to face Knuckles. "You did _break up_ with me, after all, so I do believe I'm free to date whoever I feel like!"

My ear crooked. _Date?_

And Knuckles stood huffing. "Wha-! B-but it wasn't because I wanted to!" Rouge returned a pouty shrug.

"Obviously you weren't _that_ concerned about it!"

"How can you say that?!"

As the two continued their exchange, a spiteful fury began to well up within me as the realization sank in that I'd been used for her self-centered purposes. That, and what she'd said about Amy—the way everyone was nothing more than a pawn for her manipulation—triggered that propensity to make my own justice she'd praised me for moments ago. I took a step, grinding the shattered fragments of my platter into the earth, then thrust off several feet into the air. Knuckles gasped mid-sentence, barely able to bring up a fist in his defense before I slammed into him with a full-force homing attack. His body flew back from the impact, tumbling multiple times and toppling more chairs and tables before coming to rest face down, while Rouge shrieked in renewed terror. A fast growing crowd of echidnas gathered around Deep Marjimba, some shouting and some recording the action with their cel phones, but none dared interfere.

Glass cracked and crunched under my feet as I stalked after Knuckles at an almost casual pace, challenging him even as he struggled to lift his bloodied head. "Is that all you've got?" The tone of my voice spurred him to hasten his recovery efforts, but they weren't fast enough. Grabbing one of his quills in each hand, I slammed his face back into the ground, then yanked him overhead and hurled him another ten feet, where he devastated a second row of tables.

"Shadow!!" Rouge cried out. "Shadow, wait!" Sprinting over the mess to my side, she took hold of my arm in a desperate grip. "Don't hurt him! It was just a misunderstanding!" I turned to her with my most ferocious leer, causing her to snatch her hand away.

"He's interfering with our _mission_," I snarled, then marched forth to finish what I'd started.

Knuckles, meanwhile, had managed to get to his feet, spitting out a gob of blood before stumbling forward to meet me. Dense as he was, apparently he'd considered beforehand that it might come to this, and he was as prepared as I was to see it through. I stopped as he neared, awaiting his next move. After heaving a few bracing breaths, he lunged at me in a triple-punch combination that barely fell short of my evasive jump. From the air I launched another homing attack, but he was ready this time, repelling me with a forceful blow. I landed on my feet over a yard away. Instead of finding him waiting for me, though, all I saw now was a large hole in the ground. It wasn't long before I could feel the earth trembling beneath my feet; I leaped away as Knuckles came rocketing out, swinging wildly with those pointed fists. I attacked again when the shower of dirt cleared, and again he deflected me. When I landed this time he dove and burrowed a new hole—and I waited. I crouched with one hand spread on the ground before me, discerning his position from the vibrations as they quickly closed in. With only moments to spare, I held my position.

_Hold it…hold it…and…NOW_.

I sprang up at the exact moment he emerged, taking aim with an open hand as I summoned a torrent of Chaos. It discharged and struck its target at virtually point-blank range. Seconds later, Knuckles' body struck the ground with a single heavy thud, where it remained quivering in paralysis. I followed up with another fierce homing attack, and the whole crowd flinched as he was sent airborne once more. An old lady fainted.

As I approached him again, he coughed and stirred, and a broken arm crept out from his now heavily bleeding form. Impressive. Had I done that to Sonic, he more than likely would have been killed. The arm lifted, shaking hard, until his hand blocked my gaze from his sight. The final act of defiance.

Now Rouge rushed onto the scene again, this time throwing herself on top of the battered echidna. "_Stop it!!_" It seemed the stakes of her little game had dawned on her at last. She turned her face toward me, streaked with tears and smeared with Knuckles' blood. "Please stop! There is no mission; I just brought you out here to make him jealous!"

"And now he knows exactly for which gesture of selfishness and dishonesty _he_ has paid the consequences," I stated in a hostile calm. "I warned you to stay out of my business once before. This time had better be the last." My eyes seared into her widened gaze a moment longer.

And then I left.

Unsurprisingly, my head was beginning to throb by the time I arrived home. I headed straight into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of pain killers from the cabinet. As I set it down and began with a weary yawn to fumble with the ridiculously difficult to open cap, a blinking blue light on the nearby answering machine stretched across my bleary vision. Normally I bothered with that device only about once a week, but since I was still awaiting contact from Mercury, I promptly reached over and depressed the PLAY button.

Amy's voice scratched from the economy speakers, "Hi, Shadow. Sorry to bother you again, but, uh, could you have Mercury give me a call when he can, please? I thought he was gonna come by the house today, but he never did. Please make sure he calls as soon as possible, okay? Thanks!"

I stood motionless, my head down and my fingers still curled around the cap of the bottle. My time had run out, as I knew it would. Now, even if I said nothing, she was going to know something was wrong. Rest was no longer an option. I had to find Mercury _now_.

Draped in the Mobius moon's silvery spillover, I swept along dirt trails through hay bale-dotted hillsides on what would be my third visit to Maple's farm since Mercury fled home. It was nearing midnight at this point, and the strong, cool breeze at my back did little to ease my weariness. I had only a few more miles to go when I glanced up to the sight of dark clouds brushing past the moon--just what I needed to make this miserable night complete. By the time the telltale oak came into view they'd grown so thick that they crowded half the sky. And then came a gut wrenching realization.

I wasn't looking at clouds.

Maple's home had been destroyed. Smoke oozed out where the door had been torn from its hinges, as well as from a gaping hole in the overhead garden where the ground had caved in, creating an eerie backdrop for the charred skeleton that remained of the once proud oak. Taking in the scene, I could only think of one thing.

"_Mercury_," clung to a frantic breath as I dashed to the fractured door and jerked it completely free, allowing more smoke to escape. It was still too thick to head in, so I ascended the ledge to check topside. But it was no use; I couldn't even see the floor for the smoke. My attention turned to the corroded cylindrical reservoir a few feet away that had housed the water supply to all of the home's faucets. Taking a couple of steps back, I jumped and executed a homing dash into the bottom edge of the basin. The impact left a leaky dimple in the metal. It _did_ still have water. I smashed into it again, this time puncturing the surface enough that the liquid emerged in a slimy, putrid rush. I barely threw myself out in time to avoid flowing down into the house with it.

Within seconds it was over. Traces of smoke still rose from within, but I wasn't going to wait any longer. I plunged into the expanded opening, landing in a muddy stench with nothing but moonlight to see by. My hands felt my surroundings, mainly remnants of metal and blistered glass. From room to room, I stomached the foul odors permeating every inch in search of the one I feared most—but Mercury's scent was not among them. He had not perished in the blaze. I exited the former home coughing so intensely that tears fell from my stinging eyes.

What now? Had he even been responsible for this? As I stepped farther away from the door, I kept feeling a lump under my right skate. I turned the sole to face me and discovered a piece of glass wedged between the propulsion nozzles. It had the same consistency and pattern of purplish-black swirls as the fragments that had been in the apartment. Peering back toward the door, I noted a few more shards on the ground, shining brightly now that the moon was no longer hidden by smoke. This time I didn't have to think about it to know where they'd come from. They were proof of what I'd feared all along: Mercury was in growing danger. With no further leads, though, and Rouge unlikely to offer continued support, my only remaining option was to inform Amy of the circumstances.

I could still smell the smoke in my quills and tracked crumbs of dried mud across the carpet back at the apartment, but I didn't care. I was too tired and had too much on my mind for that. Slumping into the sofa and retrieving my cel phone from the end table beside it, I wiped the dust off onto my chest and flipped it open.

It was almost four-thirty in the morning. Amy was in all likelihood still asleep. If I called to tell her now, it'd be sure to send her into a panic…and that was the last thing anyone needed. On the other hand, it occurred, every hour might count at this point. Waiting until sunrise could prove to be a terrible mistake. As I sat there weighing the pros and cons of each decision, my body ended up making one for me. I passed out.

A warm sensation along the right side of my face eventually roused me from my slumber. As with every other time I woke since that day, my body immediately tensed and one thought flooded my mind: _Where's Mercury?_ It didn't take long for the lingering odor of smoke to remind me of everything that had transpired the day before--and what I was supposed to be doing. I began to glance around and under me for my phone until I noticed it on the floor, glaring in the sun. _The sun?!_ I snatched it up and checked the time. Nine fourteen. Freaking A.

Amy's number wasn't even listed in my contacts; I'd never gotten around to entering it. She was one of very few who ever called me, however, so it was easy enough picking her number out of the call history. Before pressing TALK, I paused to contemplate how much I should tell her, and how to word it. A few minutes had passed when I shook my head. At this rate, I was just going to fall back asleep. I proceeded to activate speaker mode and initiate the call, resigned to play it by ear. But it never rang.

A pre-recorded message blared, "Hi, this is Amy Rose! Sorry I missed your call, but if you leave me a message, I'll be sure to get back with you as soon as I can! Thanks!"

My thumb mashed the END button, and I sat in silence, troubled. Amy rarely shut her phone off. Had something else happened--or was I becoming far too paranoid? Had I been paranoid in checking Maple's farm? On that notion, the next course of action was obvious. I tossed the phone aside, ignoring it on my way out as it bounced off the couch to the floor.

Amy's house, I soon saw, was fine, but upon my arrival no one was home. Where could the entire family have gone on a Sunday morning? Oh, right. She'd invited me to go to church with her in the past, but I'd never felt comfortable enough to do so. Something about sitting on a bench singing songs and listening to a man talk about God seemed…unnatural. Not that my life ever quite fit the definition of normalcy.

I began pacing about the yard, lost in my thoughts, when a small shuttle bus pulled over across from the house and the hedgehogs I awaited stepped out. I could hear Misty's voice whining over the engine's chortle.

"How come we can't go to McDonald's?"

"I'm making chicken pot pie for lunch," Amy explained.

"But I want McDonald's!!"

"We'll go a little later, Pumpkin," Sonic assured her, like an obedient lackey. About that time he glanced up and noticed me in the yard. "..What's Shadow doing here?" he asked Amy, who quickly peered my way.

"I don't know; I wasn't expecting him," she mumbled back. "Hey, Shadow!"

He complemented her greeting with an amiable nod. "What's up?"

I met them at the front porch. "There's something important I need to tell you about." My eyes fell on Misty, who had suddenly ducked behind her father.

"_He stinks!_" she whispered a little too loudly. Judging by the look on Sonic's face, she wasn't the only one thinking that.

"Must be a pretty big deal if you came all the way out here at this hour," he reasoned as he received the key from Amy to unlock the front door. "Come on in and we'll get the cards on the table."

"Cards?" I echoed, taking on a dubious scowl. He chuckled.

"It's an expression. It means you share what's on your mind, and we'll do the same."

Once inside, Amy squeezed past us into the kitchen. "How come you didn't call, Shadow? Oh wait, I forgot to turn my phone back on! Duh!" She emerged after a few seconds with startup music playing in her hands. "So what'd you want to talk to us about?"

"Yeah, what's goin' on?" Sonic prodded, taking a seat on his recliner.

I stood in the midst of the living room, wishing this moment had never come. It felt surreal to hear the words coming out of my mouth.

"It's about Mercury."

Amy froze, her eyes fixed on me, and she spoke in a voice comparably stiff. "What about Mercury?"

I inhaled slowly. "…He hasn't been home in almost two weeks now." I could almost read the ten thousand questions racing through her mind. Sonic, on the other hand, appeared blank, as if awaiting further input, and Misty could be heard eating chips in the kitchen.

"W-what do you mean?" Amy stammered. "Where did he go?"

"I don't know. We got into an argument one day and I haven't seen or heard from him since." I decided to withhold the exact details of the incident. "I've been searching for him on my own, but I think it's time to step up the efforts."

"Wait a minute," Sonic spoke up, "doncha think you're kinda overreacting here? I mean, the kid _is_ old enough to take care of himself now. Maybe he just decided it was time to strike out on his own. And besides, Amy, didn't you say he stopped by your store just the other day?"

My eyes flared at Amy, who quickly nodded.

"Yeah! Yeah, he did!" she confirmed. "He was looking for me, but I was out at the time, and that's why I thought for sure he'd stop by here yesterday, but he didn't call or anything! I knew that wasn't like him, but…now I'm scared…." She frowned at her phone for a second before flipping it open. "I'm gonna call Lydia and find out exactly what he said to her at the store!"

While she did that, I turned to Sonic. "Regardless of his intentions, it's important that I find him quickly." Before saying any more, I glanced aside to see Misty quietly retreating to her room and Amy tending to her own conversation. I then continued at a reduced tone, "I think he may be in danger."

Sonic squinted and whispered, "_Why?_" But the snap of Amy shutting her phone signaled the end of that subject.

"Okay," she breathed, "I talked to Lydia, and she said that Mercury just asked if I was there, didn't really say much, but that he didn't seem like himself. She's concerned about him too, and she said she'd be happy to come help look for him if we need help. You think I should ask her to come?"

"It would allow us to cover a wider area in less time, yes," I responded. Sonic nodded agreement, his expression notably more serious.

"Yeah, might be a good idea to track him down, just to be on the safe side. I can give Tails a call and see if he can help out too. We can cover all kinds of ground in his plane!"

I returned a nod. "Good." At last, I would have the eyes and resources necessary to make finding Mercury more promising than a shot in the dark. I just hoped it wouldn't be too late.

Lydia arrived at the residence a short while later, and while Sonic waited with Misty for Tails to show, Amy, Lydia, and I split up to check some key areas downtown. I'd checked them all myself over the past several days, of course, but at this point I knew he could be anywhere. After an hour we returned to the house, where a highly customized fighter jet perched in the driveway.

"Find anything?" Sonic asked as he opened the door, and I shook my head. "Well, Tails is here now, so we're just waiting on Amy to get back." In the living room, Lydia sat talking with the fox, as well as with a mouse whom I'd never seen before. As soon as he saw me he sprang anxiously to his feet.

"Hey, Shadow," he greeted, "uh, this is Cedar, the girl I told you about. She's come to help with the search." I glanced in her direction as she granted a shy wave.

Lydia addressed me next, "Mistuh Shadow, may I ask you a question about your son?" I approached quietly, and she went on, "On deh day dhat you last saw your son, what was it dhat you an' him were fighding about?"

"He--" I hung on the word briefly, "was angry because he thought I was ignoring him. I told him I was simply trying to go over the bills."

"An' dhen what?"

My fists tightened. "…He blew up after that." I turned from them and crossed my arms as I began to pace the room. "But that's besides the point now. All that matters now is that we find him."

She nodded, frowning, then resumed discussing search arrangements with the others. I wandered off toward the kitchen, from which I overheard Sonic consoling his daughter.

"I know I told you that, Pumpkin, but something's come up. We're gonna have to go a little later."

"That's what you said _last_ time!" she huffed. "How long's it gonna be now?"

"I'm sure it won't take long. Who knows, maybe we'll be able to stop along the way!"

She stamped her foot. "We better!"

I rolled my eyes and turned just in time to see Amy come in the front door.

"Sorry I'm late getting back," she called on her way up the stairs. She shuffled into the living room and promptly seated herself beside Lydia. "I'm guessing nobody found anything, huh?" Then she noticed Cedar. "Oh, hello."

Tails got to his feet again. "Amy, this is Cedar the mouse; Cedar, Amy the hedgehog." His tails twisted together like two-tone string cheese as Cedar bid hello and Amy blinked at her somewhat blankly.

"Cedar…? --!!" All at once her jaw dropped as she snapped her bulging eyes back to Tails.

"She was with me when Sonic called and offered to come help," he added quickly.

Amy's mouth started to move, but for a few seconds only faint squeaks came out. "Uh…hh…th-thanks, it's nice of you to help people you've never met," she finally managed.

Cedar smiled. "Well, I did meet Mercury once." Amy's eyes flew wide again, and Tails gasped. Even I flinched.

"When? Where?" I demanded, striding quickly back into the living room.

"Er, about a week or two ago, at my half-sister's house," she informed us, suddenly unsettled. "He showed up while I was there and helped me clean up the place."

Tails cast a nervous glance to Amy, who seemed a bit relieved, but I was left with even more questions. A tense silence ensued until Lydia moved to speak.

"It seems dhat we all have run intuh him somewhere."

Enough talk. "Fond as I am of this little tea party," I addressed the group, "I'd say it's about time to get started."

Things unfolded somewhat rapidly from there. For our localized search, we all split up and combed designated sectors of the city, with Tails conducting an overhead sweep. Hours of systematic wandering passed, and after completing my sector I stood at the bottom of Russian Hill, our chosen checkpoint. It wasn't long before Sonic came literally rolling down the famed switchbacks of Lombard Street, with Misty close behind. The two launched themselves from the last turn and landed like cannonballs in the shrubbery nearby. I sneered at their trivial approach.

"Well," Sonic chuckled as he hopped out onto the street, "if Merc's still in Station Square, he's got a heck of a hidin' place!"

"We haven't heard from the others yet," I remarked.

"Actually, I already talked to 'em, and they haven't found anything either. You're the only one who didn't have your phone."

I flashed a subtle leer before turning away. "He's probably returned to Mobius."

"Ugh," Misty coughed as she trailed out of the bushes, brushing off her dress. "_NOW_ can we go to McDonald's??" Sonic rubbed his chin.

"Ahh, what the heck. It'll prob'ly be another hour before the others show up anyway. Wanna come grab a bite to eat with us, Shadow?"

I didn't answer right away; another train of thought had crossed my mind.

"Shadow?"

I turned to them suddenly. "There's something I need to take care of. Give the others my report and tell them I'll meet them back at your place." Then, without waiting for a reply, I departed as fast as my skates would allow.

I paused to catch my breath at the eastern entrance of the Diamond Mill Mall, but with the entire place closing down for the evening, I couldn't afford to take more than a few seconds. Vacuums roared and flexible metal gates rattled closed all around as I hastened to the entrance of the security office. Nancee was gone already, of course, but Oscar sat in the muster room, rummaging through his locker. I peered past him to Randy's office, finding the door closed. He'd left already too.

Plucking a pen from Nancee's desk, I scratched a note on a piece of paper fished from the recycling bin, then folded it twice. When I stuffed the pen into a nearby canister the entire thing tipped over, spilling several writing instruments across the desk. Tsk. I proceeded on to Randy's door and, in a single motion, slipped the note underneath.

"Well hello there, Shadow," Oscar greeted, raising the possessions in his hand in substitution for a wave. "What're you up to at this hour?"

"I'm quitting," I replied bluntly.

"Is that right? Well then that makes two of us, 'cause I just retired. Movin' on to that janitorial position next week."

I snorted and returned a half smile. "Good luck with that."

"Thanks, Shadow. Good luck to you too!"

My smile spread to a devious peak as I passed through the reception area to the outer door.

_And good luck with scheduling, Hag Hair._

My only order of business out of the way, I was heading for the mall exit when another familiar voice called my name.

"Hey, Shadow, wait up!"

I turned wearily, in no mood for the nosey tanuki. Knowing this was likely to be the last time I'd have to see her, I opened my mouth to snap some manner of repelling comment when I looked up and discovered that Raye was accompanying her. I ended up just standing there with my mouth hanging open.

At least Trixie didn't waste time on formalities. "There's something I gotta ask you about."

"If you're not busy," Raye appended on her friend's behalf.

"Actually," I finally found words, "I am." Trixie sighed and started fidgeting with her earrings.

"Guess it'll have to be tomorrow, then."

"Yes," Raye chimed in, "we'll see you tomorrow, Shadow." Even her apologetic smile glowed, leaving me feeling too guilty to walk away letting them believe I'd be back.

"No you won't," I confessed. "I just quit my job."

Both girls gasped.

"Why, what happened?!" Trixie demanded. Raye elbowed her in the side but followed with a question of her own.

"Is everything all right?"

At this point I was too exhausted to endure everything it would take in order _not_ to tell them. "My son has gone missing, and I need to find him."

Raye popped a hand over her mouth while Trixie's voice shrank to a near whisper. "Oh my gosh…."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" the words were soft but sincere.

"Hey, yeah, how 'bout we come help look? We were just gonna go to the park but that can totally wait!"

My eyes jumped from one girl to the other. "You want to help search?" I asked, though it sounded more like a statement. Both eagerly confirmed, and I hesitated only for a moment, well remembering that this task was going to call for all the help I could get. "…Come with me."

The trip back to Amy's house took longer than anticipated; Raye always wore high heels to work, which were not too forgiving as running shoes. She bent over rubbing one aching foot, then the other, once we reached the front of the driveway. Trixie had been texting on her cel phone nearly the entire time, only looking up to see why we'd stopped.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed at the sight of the jet. "Is Tails here?"

"Yes," I replied, "there's a search party assembled inside."

"Oh good, then it's not just us."

Far from it. Counting the three of us, there were now nine individuals involved. The living room was much too crowded, so everyone gathered downstairs to further coordinate the search.

Sonic's face lit up as we stepped into the room. "Hey, Raye!" he projected over the noise, chuckling at his elite poetry skills. Suddenly all eyes were on us. Amy recycled the shocked face she'd worn when meeting Cedar.

Trixie merely blinked back at the crowd, but Raye instantly put on that dazzling smile. "Hello! We heard Shadow's son was missing so we came to help with the search." It seemed like everyone began talking at once after that. I lingered near the door while the girls mingled and became acquainted with the other guests. ..Hell, I'm talking like it was cocktail party instead of a search party, but that's what it almost felt like. We were just beginning to organize the breakdown of Mobius into sectors when a distinctive chime filled the room.

Sonic turned to Amy. "You expectin' someone else?"

"Oh," Trixie blurted out, plowing past everyone, "that's probably my sister! I'll get it!" She disappeared up the steps, as did Sonic. Seconds later, he breezed back into the room. Trixie soon followed, accompanied by not one but two more tanukis, the latter appearing about Mercury's age. Both were brought straight to me. "Here he is," Trixie told her sister, practically shoving her nose to mine. "This is Shadow the hedgehog, the security guard from the mall. Well, not anymore, since he just quit, but, you know. And, uh, Shadow, this is…uh…um…."

"Cocoa!" her sister supplied with an irked leer. Trixie broke into a sheepish laugh.

"Yeah, Cocoa! Sorry, I'm all worked up!" She fanned herself briefly with both hands, then mildly gripped the other tanuki's shoulders. "And this is Cinnamon, my niece. I told them what was going on, and they volunteered to help out too."

I had just nodded and thanked them when Raye's voice carried over the other conversations, "Cocoa, hi!" She waved to the tanukis, and they joined her on the far side of the room. I was thinking of squeezing into the crowd as well, primarily to assist with planning, when I felt an elbow jab my ribs. It was Sonic, flashing a conniving grin.

"When this is all over with," he buzzed, "I'm gonna set you up on a nice, cozy date with Raye so you two can get to know each other better!"

My eyes flew wide. "What?!"

"C'mon, don't tell me you don't think she's hot!"

"_She's taken!_" I hissed through my teeth.

"Not anymore; she split with that dirtbag mole! The coast is clear!"

I could only stare back after that, unsure what else to say. Finally I shook my head.

"I'm not here to discuss this!" I moved toward the table set up in the center of the room and attempted to view the map over Tails' shoulder. Sonic followed. "It's not like she'd take an interest in someone like me anyway," I found myself including.

"Psch! Sure she would!" He turned and tapped Tails on the shoulder, who jumped in his seat. "Hey, Tails! Don't ya think Raye would be a good match for Shadow?"

Tails blinked. "Raye? But…I…uhh…." His eyes darted to me, then he leaned in and mentioned to Sonic, "Remember what I said about Cedar?"

"Dude, does she even _like_ him?"

Tails was quiet for a second, his cheek twitching. "…Maybe!" Sonic snorted at that.

"Well let's settle this right now!" He moseyed around the table to the sienna mouse while Tails waved his hands in a panic.

"N-no! Sonic!!"

"Excuse me," Sonic engaged Cedar, "I was just wondering, you think you'd like to go out with Shadow if he asked you out?"

By then I had turned away lest she know I was listening. I could hear the embarrassment in her stammering hesitation.

"Uh, w-well…I don't know…I don't really know that much about him…."

Trixie, who until now had been listening to another conversation, suddenly aired her two cents. "Shadow's not asking anyone out because he's slated to hook up with my sister!"

"_Trixie!!_" Cocoa shrieked, obviously mortified.

Sonic scoffed. "Why would he wanna go out with a tanuki when he has someone his own species?" he challenged Trixie, obviously referring to Raye.

"W-what?" Raye nearly choked.

A tense hush fell over the entire crowd, but the collective embarrassment was deafening. Sonic backed up a couple of steps to take in the entire horde of prospects.

"Man! This ain't a search party! It's a friggin' harem!!"

I couldn't remember the last time I'd wanted to kick his ass so badly.

"Has it occurred to anyone," I broke in, "that I might not even _want_ another mate, or that I might want to make my own choices about whom I do and do not see?" All remained silent as I stormed to the door with only one more thing to say. "Whoever's actually here to help me find my son, come with me, and be prepared to move fast."

There was a lot of ground to cover, after all.

* * *

**Author's Note:** No, the story's not over yet! XD We're just now getting to the good stuff! Hope you've enjoyed the chaos (No pun intended!) so far; if you have any questions, comments, thoughts, and/or predictions, any at all, I'd totally love to hear 'em! Thanks again for all your patience and support, and happy new year to all!


	8. A Night of Passion

Part 2

Chapter 8 – A Night of Passion

Amy snagged Sonic's arm as the now muted search party filtered upstairs and out of their house, snapping him to her side with a single sharp yank.

"_What do you think you're doing_?!" It was all she could do to keep her seething voice down. "These people came to help find Mercury, and all you can do is embarrass them with stupid, rude questions?" Her quills tensed at his remorseless laugh.

"Chill, Amy! Believe it or not, I've got everyone's best interest in mind!"

"How is that supposed to be in their best interest?!"

"Because one thing I've learned," he explained quietly, raising a privy finger, "is that getting a group of women together like this is like lighting the fuse of a giant bomb. They all get along at first, sure…but keep 'em that way for more than a few hours and all of a sudden _BLAM_! You're caught in the middle of a melodrama melee!" His hands spread to illustrate the devastation.

Amy paused with fluttering eyelids as she struggled to understand. "What, you're trying to set them off _now_ to save time?" Again he laughed.

"No, see, the key is to force 'em out of their comfort zone _without_ settin' 'em off. That way, if my lil' theory here is right, their 'bomb' energy will be defused before they have a chance to use it!"

"And you had to humiliate poor Shadow to do that?"

He shrugged. "That was just the frosting on the cake!" Flinching from her angry snort, he quickly added, "Speaking of which, we should prob'ly get out there before he leaves us behind." A suppressed sigh of relief escaped him as she whipped about and headed for the stairs. He was trailing her at a safe distance when she stopped just short of the carpeted ascent, peering up the way.

"Raye?" she called. "What's wrong?"

Balancing five steps up on a single glossy two-inch heel, the lemon blonde hedgehog clung to the rail as she reached back with her other hand to gently rub the foot that lifted to meet it. Even in obvious agony she was a vision of grace, a small part of which undeniably stemmed from the white long-sleeved blouse, blue argyle vest, and straight ebony skirt that graced her lovely frame. Beyond that, however, she seemed to exude a naturally warm, personable aura that drew in even the most casual observer. She turned to face Amy with an apologetic smile.

"It's just these shoes. They're great for work, but they sure aren't made for running!"

Glancing down at the dressy black pumps, Amy touched a hand to her mouth. "Oh my gosh, you can't keep going in those! Here, let me see if I can find my old workout shoes. I'm pretty sure I still have them!"

As Raye stepped aside and Amy hurried past her up both flights of stairs, Sonic climbed the lower flight to join Raye on the landing that adjoined the front door. He rubbed the back of his head in hesitation before he spoke.

"Hey, uh, I hope I didn't put you too much on the spot earlier."

"Ohh, that's okay," she replied within an airy laugh, a hint of blush dressing her cheeks. "You were just defending the species," she added with a wink.

"Heh, exactly! I mean, I got nothin' against interracial relationships, but there's something extra special about having another hedgehog by your side."

Raye tipped her smile into a slight smirk. "It certainly doesn't apply to moles."

"That's why you've gotta-" Sonic stopped short as Amy's voice filtered over his from the master bedroom.

"I found them!" Seconds later she jogged around the corner and back down the steps with a pair of mildly worn sneakers in hand. They were dark pink with two thick white stripes curving down the sides and another down the toes, offset by five triangular yellow guides containing strictly superficial laces—hardly the best match for Raye's upscale ensemble, but a welcome sight for her nonetheless. Her trademark smile glowed as she accepted them.

"Thank you, Amy."

"Sure thing! Feel free to keep them as long as you need, but they do have sentimental value so I'd like to get them back at some point."

Raye nodded. "Of course. I'll take good care of them."

"Uh oh," Sonic spoke up as he peeked out the front door. "You might wanna change shoes quick, Raye. Looks like they already left!" He stumbled back as Amy elbowed him aside.

"Quit teasing, Sonic!" When she too peered out, however, her eyes rounded. "Oh, oh no, they really did leave! Hurry, Raye!"

With Amy watching her and Sonic leaning outside to see just how far the group had gotten, Raye made a quick seat of the stairs, wincing as she tugged off each heel and hastily eased a sneaker on in its place. They were a bit snug, she found, but considering the alternative, she wasn't about to complain.

Sonic glanced back at the ladies. "Ready?"

"Ready," Raye echoed, setting her own shoes on the landing and grabbing the rail to pull herself up. The three headed out the door, and as Amy locked up, Sonic bolted to the street for a better view. After a moment he called back to them.

"They're long gone! I don't see anyone!"

Raye fished a skinny blue cel phone out of her pocket. "I'll see if I can get a hold of Cocoa." She dialed out as Sonic rejoined her and Amy at the front porch, and they all listened to the broadcasted rings, shortly followed by Cocoa's digitalized voice.

"Raye, where are you?" she answered, her tone a cross between concern and annoyance.

"I'm still at the house with Sonic and Amy," Raye assumed a louder, more stony air. "You guys left without us!"

"Yeah, he sure didn' wait around long."

"So where are you all now? Which way are you headed?"

"I'm pretty sure we're going to cross over into Mobius before we split up, but first we're stopping at a restaurant to get something to eat."

"Which restaurant?"

"Umm…hold on a second." After a brief silence, multiple voices shared an indistinguishable exchange in the background. The three hedgehogs stood waiting, ears twitching, until Cocoa returned to the forefront. "I guess we're going to a place called Vinnie's."

"Vinnie's?" Raye inquired mainly of Sonic as she glanced up, unsure of the location herself. He returned a thumbs up. "All right, we'll meet you guys there."

"Okay, see you there."

Raye barely had time to press the END button before Sonic grabbed hold of her wrist, as well as Amy's. He urged, "Hang on," doubling his speed every few seconds until the girls were wailing in airborne tow.

Cocoa, meanwhile, took the opportunity after the call to delete her old text messages. By the time she finished, the group had arrived at a bustling strip mall that, among many other enticing shops, featured the Vinnie's pizzeria Shadow had mentioned. She took pause in the parking lot to put her phone away when Trixie suddenly elbowed her arm, sending the device tumbling apart across the concrete.

Oblivious to the side effect of her gesture, Trixie pointed to a piece of décor inside the establishment. "Hey, get a load of that lamp with the horses moving around in it!" She glanced back at her sister in time to catch the pointed end of her glare as she retrieved her phone, battery, and cover panel. "See it?" Her hand fell to her side when Cocoa turned her back to her to reassemble the parts. "…What's your problem?"

"I'm not speaking to you," Cocoa snapped over her shoulder.

"Why?" The frown deepened on Trixie's face as she watched Cocoa walk off and enter the restaurant behind the others. She hastened after, slipping through the closing door only to get her tail caught in it. With a mostly suppressed groan, she sullenly hugged the aching appendage against her chest on her way to the booth Cocoa had selected.

Cinnamon, who was seated next to her mother, craned her neck to read their shared menu. "…What's…spaghetti alla carbonara?" She peered up at Trixie expectantly, who snorted a laugh.

"I haven' started on Italian yet."

Cocoa placed a finger under the entrée's description. "It says it contains pork, eggs, parmesan cheese, and black pepper. Does that sound like something you want?"

"Ehh," Cinnamon considered, "I think I'll keep looking."

In the silence between the three that followed, Trixie groaned anew. "What are you mad about?" she prodded Cocoa. "What I said at the house?"

"Uh, besides shoving me close enough to Shadow's face to count his pores, yeah," Cocoa barely bothered looking up as she muttered.

"That was…I got a little excited when I was introducing you. Sorry about that." She paused to smile at Cinnamon's giggles. "But it was only proper to speak up in the face of a potential threat! You've gotta stake your claim for dibs!"

"I never said I wanted to go out with him!"

"Well, you never said you didn'!"

Cinnamon raised a finger. "Steak, yeah! That's what I want! Steakburger pizza!" Cocoa patted her tail.

"All right, Cinni."

"With stuffed crust!"

"Keep your voice down."

Trixie skimmed through her own menu, twisting away at her earring. "So, what were your first impressions when you met him?"

"Actually, I'm pretty sure I met him before."

"Really??"

Cocoa nodded thoughtfully. "It was that day we had to buy gifts for Butterscotch's baby shower."

"Oh, when we made Jedd watch the store?"

"Yeah."

"…Where was I?"

"I think you'd gone to Best Buy already."

"Hm." Trixie took a moment to process the new information. "…So what do you think of him?"

Cocoa sighed and shrugged. "I don' know. He's certainly no Genji."

"Heh, yeah, they're definitely pretty different, but Shadow's kinda cool in his own ways."

"From what I've seen so far, he's impatient and inconsiderate. Raye just called and said she got left behind." She closed her menu as Trixie and Cinnamon both leaned out of the booth to look, and a sheepish laugh bubbled up in Trixie.

"Maybe he thought she wasn' coming, or didn' notice. Until you mentioned it _I_ didn' even notice!"

"Yeah, well, the last thing I need is another one of you in my life."

Trixie balked. "Just for that I'm gonna tell him you're crazy about him!"

"Go ahead."

"…But seriously, though, you should take time to get to know him. I don' think he's as bad as he seems."

"Hey, Mom," Cinnamon needled in as she peered several booths down, "you mind if I go sit with her for a while?" Cocoa glanced over to see Misty seated alone.

"As long as she doesn' mind company."

An unassuming smile gently stretched on Cinnamon's face as she hopped from her booth and approached that occupied by the lavender hedgehog. She stopped beside the table, and the two girls' eyes met.

"Hi," Cinnamon greeted with an uplifted hand. "Mind if I sit here?"

Misty shrugged. "I don't care."

"Thanks." The tanuki wasted no time making herself comfortable on the opposite seat, then giggled a bit. "I just thought it'd be nice to talk to someone more my own age, you know?" Her nervousness eased as she noticed Misty crack a smile of her own.

"Yeah. Heh, so did your mom make you come along too?"

Cinnamon blinked. "No, I wanted to come. Why? Don' you want to help find Mr. Shadow's son?"

"_Pwuh_," Misty sneered through a sarcastic snort, "like I really want _him_ back around."

"You don' like him…?"

"He was nothing but a troublemaker."

"But-"

"It's good riddance as far as I'm concerned!" She finished the sentence with an open palm clapped to the table. Cinnamon leaned away, daring not ask more. They both sat in silence for several moments after that as Misty stared frowning at her motionless hand.

A short distance away, the door opened with its telltale clatter, and three wind-sheared hedgehogs entered the restaurant. Raye attempted to fluff her quills back into place while following Sonic and Amy to Misty's booth. Along the way, Sonic lifted a hand in acknowledgement as he passed the tanukis' table, as well as the one at which Shadow, Lydia, and Cedar were seated.

"Way to start the party without us," he quipped at Shadow, who sat rolling a fork between his fingers. He cast an unapologetic glance up.

"I told you to be ready to move." His eyes caught Raye's for a split second before he quickly shifted them back to his utensil.

At the children's booth, Misty crossed her arms in accompaniment of her prideful simper. "'Bout time!"

"Sorry we kept you waiting," Amy returned as she scooted in beside her daughter. At the same time, Cinnamon took the opportunity to sidle out.

"I'm going to go sit with my mom again," she explained kindly before hurrying off. Sonic gladly bounced into the seat in her place, and Raye slid in after him.

"Iris and I had some McDonald's earlier," he told Amy, "but I could go for a lil' appetizer! What do you think, Pumpkin? You still hungry?"

Misty tilted her head and rubbed her chin. "Mmmm, I could go fooor…cobbler! Does this place have cobbler?"

"Hm, nope," Sonic replied after a glance at the menu.

"Can you go get me some?"

"Not now, Sweetheart," Amy broke in. "We've got a lot to do, and we don't need your father running around after cobbler. We don't want to get left behind again." She opened her own menu while Misty huffed a sigh.

Leaning from the tanukis' booth, Trixie waved an arm to get her friend's attention. "Hey, Raye, c'mere! I've gotta ask you something!" The other hedgehogs all glanced her way, then at Raye as a shy but nonetheless radiant smile emerged and she began to maneuver out of the booth.

"Please excuse me," she all but whispered. Once she'd made her way to the other table, Trixie wrenched aside to make room and patted the empty length of seat. Cocoa slid a menu across the table to her as she resettled.

"The waiter just came by with drinks, but no one's ordered yet."

"Yeah," Trixie added, "this place has more people drooling over it than a hawt dog in heat!"

Raye straightened the silverware beside the menu as she flipped it open. "So what were you wanting to ask me about?" She turned to Trixie.

"Well, uh, you and Dugg split up already, right?" Trixie asked of her mate. Raye nodded. "So then, what's your aim now? You diggin' Shadow?" She abruptly jumped in her seat upon receiving a swift kick in the shin. "_Ow!!_"

"It's none of your business," Cocoa growled through her teeth.

Embarrassment did little to falter Raye's flawless smile, which merely dimpled into another attractive expression. "I…I'm not sure if I'm ready for someone else yet…."

The moment had yet to pass when Raye and the tanukis became all-at-once aware of a subtle yet widespread vibration humming through the building. The others had noticed it too, their eyes on the silverware and seasoning shakers as the items began a noisy dance. A thunderous roar then seemed to envelop them, until it sounded as though a tornado was dropping in for takeout.

Then it stopped.

Sonic stood up on his seat and hopped over Raye. "Sounds like Tails is here!" he announced on his way to the door. Everyone watched as he pulled it open, and sure enough, the twin-tailed fox strolled in seconds later. "Hey, buddy! I was just wondering where you were!"

"Had to get gassed up," Tails replied, wiping his hands on a ratty paper towel that looked just as soiled as they were. "Good thing I checked my GPS on the way back!" He followed Sonic to the booths, passing the staring tanukis with a genial nod and stopping when he reached Shadow's table to hand Cedar a metallic blue DSi stylus. "Found it under your seat."

Cedar's eyes lit up as she reached out to retrieve her lost accessory. "Oh, thank you!" Her smile was short lived, however, melting quickly to a grimace at the stylus' grimy condition. She dangled it from her fingertips while she wrestled a napkin out from under her silverware. "Would you like to sit with us?" she asked Tails as she wiped it down.

"Thanks," he agreed, helping himself to the empty spot beside Shadow with an addressing nod to him. "I still need to go over the map with you anyway. What'd you do with it?" He accepted the used napkin from Cedar as Shadow plucked the folded map from beside himself and placed it on the table. "Okay," the fox began, briefly wiping his hands again before unfolding the sheet to its full size, "I went ahead and marked the greater regions off into sectors, which are largely based on the familiarity of the search party members with those areas." He pointed to one of the sectors, outlined in a thick line of red ink. "This area is where Cedar's from, so she can check that out. And this jungle, "he moved on, "Lydia knows really well, so she'll be heading there. And then over here…." As his hand swept toward the top left corner of the map, Cedar's sprung forward, catching her water glass just as he collided with it through the paper. Water sloshed nearly straight up, most of which landed back in the tumbler. Tails peeled the dampened corner away. "Whoa, sorry! Good catch!" He passed the well used napkin back to soak up the tiny puddles on the table while Lydia quietly edged her own glass closer to the wall.

Shadow reclined stiffly and crossed his arms. "I understand the general concept. We can go over the details in Mobius." Tails lowered the map, frowning a bit.

"Actually, I'm not going to be going there with you guys. Sonic and I are taking the X-Tornado from here to do a more widespread aerial search in both worlds."

"As long as everyone knows what sectors they're assigned to, we should be fine."

"I think so…." Tails thought for a moment, then fingered one more location. "But I should point out this area here. This is going to be the hub, so to speak, where you guys are going to split up from. That's where you need to head from here."

Shadow nodded. "Understood."

One hour and a heavy, greasy meal later, everyone began to emerge from the restaurant looking more ready for a nap than a search detail. Sonic was still working a toothpick over his teeth when he approached Shadow in the parking lot.

"Hey, Tails and I are gettin' ready to head out. Good luck to us both, eh?" He extended an open hand, which Shadow eyed with an edge of distasteful reluctance before he took it. They exchanged a single firm shake. "Oh, and we decided that Iris is gonna be staying here in Station Square, just in case Merc comes back."

"Good," was all Shadow had to say as he turned and resumed heading out of the lot. He stepped past Cocoa, who had overheard the hedgehogs and turned to her own daughter.

"Cinni, how about you stay here with, um, Iris? This could be a difficult journey, and I'd feel a lot better if you were closer to home. You can help her keep an eye out for Mercury." Cinnamon looked up with a feeble whine.

"Unnn…do I have to?"

Trixie turned and joined in, "I think that's a good idea, Cinni. This trip isn' gonna be a picnic."

"You'll have someone who's a lot closer to your age to talk to too," Cocoa added.

Cinnamon wrinkled her muzzle at the thought. "Yeah…."

"All right," her mother prompted, wrapping her in a quick hug and then nudging her along, "go ahead and follow her home, and we'll see you when we get back, okay?"

"Okay, Mom. Be careful! You too, Aunt Trixie!" The child offered an unceremonious wave on her way to join Misty, leaving Trixie standing with her arms and ears down.

"What, I don' get a hug?"

Cocoa snorted. "Those are reserved for relatives who actually set a good example!"

"Then why'd you get one?"

While the tanuki sisters started going at it again, Tails suddenly lifted his finger with a thought. "Oh, Shadow, I need your cel phone number so I can contact you with any updates." The black hedgehog turned to him.

"I left my phone at home…but I'm wearing a GUN-issued comms device, if you're capable of transmitting to it."

"Let me see it." Tails stepped over as Shadow removed the thin metal band. He took and held it in delicate scrutiny between his fingers. "Hmm……ah." An empty laugh escaped him. "You know what? I had the component in my plane that was capable of communicating on this frequency, but I removed it recently to make room for some other stuff."

Sonic tapped his foot for a moment before speaking up. "Here, Shadow, why don't you borrow mine? I won't have a use for it as long as I'm with Tails anyway." He detached its wristwatch-style clasp and dangled it like a dead fish. Shadow opened a hand under it, allowing it to pile into his palm. The moment he retrieved the other device and the two came into contact, however, a painfully shrill tone screamed between them, causing everyone in the lot to flinch. Even the tanuki sisters had to stop arguing and shield their ears. Shadow quickly pulled the bands well apart.

"Wow," Tails breathed after a moment of recovery. "I don't recommend wearing those at the same time." Rubbing an aching ear, Shadow lifted the GUN band in front of Sonic.

"We'll trade back when this is over."

Sonic returned a nod. "Right."

The pizzeria's door opened about that point, and Cedar, the only party member who wasn't yet outside, emerged at last. "Sorry for taking so long! Hope you guys weren't waiting on me."

"Nah," Sonic spoke for the group, "you're just in time!" He arced a wave in collective farewell as he backed up to Amy's side. "See ya guys on the other side!"

Amy made a face. "Don't say it like _that_." She threw her arms around her chuckling husband and gave him a brief but firm squeeze. "Be safe." He nodded as he pulled away.

"You too!"

As Sonic and Tails departed for the waiting jet, Shadow scanned the remainder of the party, only to arrive at an encompassing realization: he was now the only male present. It was a unique moment in his life, as was the entire situation, one both unsettling and touching, and one he was sure he'd never experience again. He dragged a breath and uttered the most appropriate words that came to mind.

"Let's go."

The so-called "hub" site, as it turned out, was little more than a popular clearing within the southeastern edge of the Great Forest of Mobius. Little conversation arose along the way; the few times it did, it concerned directions or terrain or the weather. It wasn't until the group began to gather resources for a makeshift campsite that the wall of social alienation began to crumble.

Picking up sticks for firewood, Amy paused to glance at Lydia collecting rocks to use around the fire. As soon as she did so, the lynx peered up, her lemon-lime eyes aglow against the dwindling sunset. "Is somedhing wrong, Ms. Amy?"

Amy cracked a subtle smile. "You've been pretty quiet today. You doing all right?"

"Oh yes, I am okay. I have just been deh-rying to lis-un." She came to a standstill as Amy nodded and resumed her own task.

"Thanks again for coming to help. I'm not sure how long we're gonna be out here, but I gave Shinelich a call while we were at Vinnie's and asked him to just finish out pending orders and then leave the shop closed until we get back. The only thing I want to worry about right now is Mercury."

"Yes," Lydia agreed, then moved closer to Amy and continued in a lower voice, "dhough I dhink dher is somedhing going on with your son dhat Shadow is not delling us. Dher is somedhing he is hiding…."

"Really?" The curiosity in Amy's eyes rapidly morphed into the contour of a mother's fear. "You think…something's already happened to Mercury??" She began scrambling in near circles. "Which way did Shadow go? I'm gonna go talk to him and-"

"No," Lydia objected, catching her arm, "if you go ask him now he will dell you nodhing. Give him a chance tuh dalk tuh you on his own. I feel dhat you will get more information from him dhis way." She maintained her grip until the words had a chance to sink in.

"Wha…but…are you sure…?"

"If I pick up on somedhing more, mmm, urgent, I will be sure tuh dell you," she assured her.

"Okay…." Amy wandered a few steps, dismay growing in her countenance. "…But…why wouldn't he tell me? Mercury's my son too!"

"I'm sure he will in dime."

The two quickly hushed as the sound of returning voices met their ears. Soon Cocoa and Trixie hiked into view, carrying several wild berries in stiff little plastic bags printed with dancing daisies. In the midst of their conversation, Trixie detailed one of her favorite new shows.

"In one episode the moose starts to walk into a diner and he looks down and sees he's about to step on some tacks, and he's like 'Ahh!' and he moves his foot over to the right, but on the right there's a bunch of snakes, and he's like 'Ahh!' again and moves his foot to the left, and there's a pool of lava on the left, so finally he just backs up out of the diner, only to get hit by a truck!" She laughed herself breathless at the recollection while Cocoa shook her head. They continued on past Lydia and Amy back to the clearing, where Cedar stooped scraping dead leaves and other debris across the dry dirt with a makeshift rake of sticks. She cast a fleeting glance at the sisters as she worked.

Cocoa motioned to an area already raked clean. "Let's put the berries here." She set her two bags down, then reached into the pocket of her denim jacket and pulled out another bag filled with cinnamon almonds. "Whoever wants them can have some of these too."

"How long have you had those?" Trixie asked, her face contorted in near disgust.

"I just made these a couple days ago."

"Oh, okay, I thought it was the ones you had from, like, a few months ago!" The gray tanuki dropped her bags in the chosen spot and started to sit down beside them when she suddenly stumbled back upright. "Oh man, you know what I just thought of? Who's gonna watch the store tomorrow?"

"Sigh," Cocoa sighed, "I already called Serrah and Jedd on the way from home and asked them to fill in when they could. Jedd said his brother can probably help too. So, it's all taken care of, no thanks to you." She casually spit out a couple of tiny seeds as Trixie glared a moment, her frown pursed to one side.

"…Why do I even bother to talk to you?"

"I don' know. I guess nobody else wants to put up with you."

"Um," Raye's muffled voice carried from the other side of the clearing, "could somebody grab a few of these before I drop them, please?" She lurched toward them with both arms full of fir tree limbs, popularly referred to among Mobians as "fur" trees because of the distinctively soft texture of their long, thin leaves. Both tanukis and Cedar hurried over to Raye to assist with the load, for which she breathed her thanks. "Shadow's got a whole bunch more ready to grab if you want to help with the rest."

Trixie slipped Cocoa a snooty leer. "Sure thing. I got a headache and I think I pulled a muscle in my leg a second ago, but I can' have anyone thinking I'm _irresponsible_." Cocoa returned the wordless sentiment with one of her own, and the two stuck their noses in the air before following Raye back into the woods.

By sundown the team had a simple but decent campsite set up within the clearing. Lydia had started the fire like an old pro, using nothing more than two sticks from the pile. A circle of fist-sized rocks surrounded the blaze, acting as a safety barrier between it and the fur limb bedding laid around its warmth. As the flames crackled and licked the cool night breeze, Raye leaned in from where she sat, squinting against the heat as she adjusted the positions of the rocks. A few feet to her left, Amy sat brooding with her arms embracing her folded legs. Shadow paced a short distance behind her, similarly lost in thought. Cedar lay on the opposite side of the fire, her sleepy face resting on one arm. Further back, Lydia lay curled up, fast asleep. Completing the circle were the tanuki sisters, Trixie sitting cross-legged with her tail in her lap and Cocoa lying on her stomach.

As usual, Trixie was first to break the silence. "Sooo, anyone got a ghost story to tell?" Her eyes roved the rest of the party, and she aired a voiceless chuckle. "Don' everybody jump at once!" It seemed only the dancing shadows behind them cared to depict the fleeting forms of ghostly commotion. Cedar pulled her legs closer to her body.

"I think I'm already kinda creeped out enough here as it is," she mumbled.

"Everybody just sitting around staring at each other is what's creeping me out," Trixie returned as she reached for one of the berry-filled bags. "How about a game?"

Amy blinked and looked up. "Huh?"

"Like what?" Cedar followed. "Categories?"

"Ugh," Cocoa groaned, "if we start playing that I'm leaving." She rested her chin on her hands as Raye and Cedar shared a mild laugh and Trixie popped a berry in her mouth, musing their options further.

"…How about…someone picks a person and asks them which of two really good or really bad things they'd rather choose?"

"_They_?" Cedar echoed the poor grammar under her breath.

Trixie went on, "Like, I could ask Cocoa, 'Would you rather eat a rotten tomato or a freshly fried porkchop?' and she'd say her answer and then ask someone else a question." The other girls conveyed their understanding while Cocoa grimaced in disgust.

"Blech. I think I'd probably go with the rotten tomato."

"Oh, that's right," Raye recalled, "you don't like meat, do you?"

"It grosses me out."

Amy leaned forward. "You don't like meat at all? Of any kind?"

"I don' even like things that resemble meat. Makes me want to gag just smelling it."

"Wow," Cedar marveled, "I bet that really limits your options at restaurants."

Cocoa shrugged. "I can get around that easily enough. What really annoys me is when people act like there's something wrong with me just because I don' like it. Before I moved out here people would tell me it's so 'un-tanuki-like,' and here they think I'm some kind of cow-worshiping fanatic."

"So _anyways_," Trixie grunted, "it's your turn to ask someone a question now, Cocoa."

"You can ask someone for me."

"No! You play and you like it!"

Dragging an exaggerated sigh, Cocoa tilted her head at a leftward angle. "Raye…if you had to choose between…having the perfect mate at the expense of your life's dream or achieving your life's dream and spending the rest of your life single, which would you pick?"

"Oh, gosh," Raye expressed, slowly smoothing a hand down her shoulder-length quills and patting the edges of their outward bobs, "that's a tough one. Starting up my own jewelry franchise has always been my biggest dream, but it's important to me to have a strong, caring guy by my side too."

Only the crisp pops of burning wood filled the silence that followed, and Amy found herself glancing sidelong at Shadow, who briefly met her gaze as he continued to pace.

After a few moments Raye continued, "I think…it would be awfully lonely having the fortune of a successful franchise and no one to share it with. If I had to choose between the two, having the right guy would come first." She nodded in affirmation of her own decision. "So, it's my turn to ask someone a question now?"

"Yep," Trixie replied.

"Okay." With a fingertip to her lip, Raye glanced over the others briefly. "Okay, this question is for Cedar…but first, could I get a bag of berries, please?" She grinned brightly as Cocoa handed one over. "Thanks. Okay, the question is…would you rather have a lifetime supply of chocolate or cheese?"

Cedar's ears perked up. "What kind of cheese?"

"Your favorite kind."

"Ooo…I think I would go with, uhh…most likely chocolate. I think I eat more of that than I do cheese."

"Hmhm, okay!" Raye giggled, peering into her bag.

"Give me a minute to think of a question," Cedar added. As she lay collecting her thoughts, Raye sampled one of the freshly picked fickleberries.

"Urrgh! Sour!!"

"I know, right?" Trixie crowed. "Those are the sourest fickleberries I've ever had!"

"Sourest?" Cocoa echoed the term with a tone to match. "Is that even a word?"

Cedar shook her head and answered somewhat blankly. "It's not." Then a smile emerged from her meditative pout. "Okay, I've got one!" Her mottled hazel eyes lifted and peered past the campfire. "Shadow!" She pushed herself upright as he stopped and turned her way. "If you were buried up to your neck in steamy manure," she paused at the others' laughter, "and there were a baseball flying toward your face at a hundred miles per hour, would you let the ball hit your face or duck to avoid it?" She sat grinning as Trixie rolled on the ground cackling.

Shadow could only stare for a moment, as if trying to convince himself that someone had indeed just asked him that. After a few reserved blinks he turned and began pacing again. Cedar's tail rapped the ground in anticipation. "Well?"

"I don't fear pain," he answered as he walked. "But a filthy face is easier to deal with than a broken one."

Trixie heaved some much needed air. "That was a good one!" The comment met a sheepish shrug from the mouse.

"I read it in a book a long time ago." She turned at the rustling of fur limbs behind her to see Lydia stretching.

"What is all deh laughing about?" she yawned.

"We're playing a little game," Trixie explained. "Wanna join in?"

"Okay, I will play." She sniffed and scratched her back as Trixie returned her attention to Shadow.

"It's Shadow's turn to ask a question now. Go ahead, Shadow!"

Amy added, "And come sit down, would you? You're making me nervous with all that pacing."

Shadow shook his head. "I'm too restless to sit." In an unspoken compromise, though, he ceased his pacing, standing a few steps behind Amy with his arms crossed. "I once read a book filled with questions designed to provoke thought too," he mentioned after a moment. "Maria and I would ask the questions to each other. There's one in particular I remember." His eyes fixed on Lydia. "You and a stranger are trapped in an underground shaft with only enough fresh air to last one person ten hours. It will take rescuers eight hours to drill a hole to you. The only things you and the stranger have are a bottle of sleeping pills and a revolver loaded with a single bullet. The stranger takes some of the pills and goes to sleep. What do you do?"

Lydia came out of another yawn to find everyone staring. She tugged down her uneven tank top and cleared her throat, but before she could answer, Trixie blurted out a question.

"Who's Maria?"

Shadow's already heavy expression soured. "An old friend." By now there was an almost tangible shift in the atmosphere.

"Deh sedding is vedy bad," Lydia said finally. "I dhink dhat someone will die no madder what I do." She yawned again. "In my deh-ribe we were dold tuh always sacrifice what we have tuh help odhers."

"Your what?" Shadow posed in his struggle with her accent.

"Dehr-ribe."

"Tribe," Amy clarified.

Lydia nodded. "My dudy would be tuh use deh gun on myself tuh help deh odher person…but tuh dell you deh deh-rudh, I do not know if I could do it. But dhen if deh odher person dies because of me, I would feel so bad I would wish tuh be dead…."

Grunting wearily, Cocoa rolled over onto her side. "But the _other_ person obviously didn' have any intentions of sacrificing himself. I don' see why you should feel bad just because you wanted to live too."

"Yeah," Cedar joined in, "if it were me I'd take some of the sleeping pills too, and pray for the best. You breathe more slowly when you're asleep, so there's a chance you could both make it."

Trixie tapped her chin as if mulling the scenario over herself, but her brainwaves were being channeled down other avenues. "So what would _you_ do in that situation?" she asked Shadow. The ebony hedgehog cocked his head.

"It's not your turn to ask."

"Heh…." She left her reaction at that, being too unsure of how to take the remark.

Seizing the momentary silence, Lydia asked no one in particular, "I am now deh one who is tuh ask a ques-chun?"

"Yeah, go ahead," Trixie's voice cracked slightly.

"Dhis ques-chun is for Ms. Amy." Her face held grim as she spoke, "Let us say dhat dher is someone you know who knows somedhing impordant about someone else you know. Would you want tuh know what dhis dhing is even if knowing it would make you upset?"

A smile crept up the corner of Amy's mouth as it became clear to which individual Lydia was really speaking. She nodded ardently. "Yes, yes I would. Definitely."

"I vedy much agree," Lydia took it a step further. "It is much bedder tuh know somedhing you do not like dhan tuh be left in deh dark." She cast a keen glance Shadow's way, finding him to be staring off into the darkness of the woods.

As they spoke, Cedar began to yawn, which in turn caused Cocoa to yawn, and then Lydia yawned again as well. Cedar laughed at the trend she'd started. "I don't know about you guys, but I think I'm about ready for bed." Cocoa merely nodded, but Trixie's ears turned aside.

"Wait, I haven' been asked a question yet!"

"Oh good grief," Cocoa groaned, "ask her a question before she goes into some kind of psycho tizzy." The comment earned her a fickleberry to the head, which she ignored.

"Okay," Amy obliged, shifting her legs beside her, "here's one. If you could only have one or the other, would you rather have brains or beauty?"

Trixie blinked at that. "Beauty, without a doubt! I mean, it's the best option for the average girl, since we all know the average guy can see much better than he can think."

Cocoa rolled her eyes. "And the intelligent girl would value her brains because she knows there's more to life than attracting men."

"Easy for the someone with a kid to say, as usual," Trixie rattled back, "but scientific research has proven that people with good looks get further in life, even when they're dumb, because appearances are a lot more important to people than abilities."

Cocoa snorted. "And what do you do when your looks start to go and you can' whore your way through life anymore?"

"It's not whoring! The point is that people give good looking people the benefit of the doubt more often than not!"

"Your sister's got a point, though," Amy countered. "Regardless of how much your looks might help you get by, they're not gonna last forever. And what about major life decisions? Your looks aren't going to make them for you."

Trixie casually crossed her arms behind her head and began twisting at her earring. "I've got a daily horoscope for that!"

"More baloney," Cocoa spat.

"Hey, it told me someone new would be getting my attention the day I met Mr. Two Tails!"

Amy's laugh was subtle, "Heh…I used to read my horoscope all the time too. I even used tarot cards to keep tabs on Sonic, back before we got together." Trixie broke into a grin at that.

"Must've worked pretty well!"

"It did help when it came to tracking him down…but I don't like to use that kind of stuff anymore."

"Why not?"

"Well, I've been trying to study the holy doctrine of this world, and it says we're supposed to trust in the High One instead of fortune telling and astrology. It told a story about a man who went to a fortune teller, and afterward the High One allowed the bad things that were predicted by the fortune teller to actually happen to the man as punishment, whereas he would have been protected from them otherwise."

"It's that specific?" At Amy's nod, Trixie let her arms fall back in her lap. "How come our world's doctrine doesn' have all that?"

"There's a lot more at stake for humans than there is for us. The outcome of their eternal afterlife hinges on whether they trust in the Christ sent by the High One. The Evil One wants to destroy them in every way possible, which is why they have so many more commandments and rules to follow than us Mobians."

Both girls jumped as Shadow suddenly entered the conversation, "There are a lot of commandments in the doctrine that don't make a lot of sense to me. I don't see the significance of going to church when all they do is tell you what's in the doctrine."

"Worship's not all about us," Cedar joined as well. "You go to church to praise the High One."

"That's another thing. There's something disturbingly unnatural about standing and singing every five minutes." He glanced Trixie's way as she belted out a laugh. Even Cedar donned an amused grin.

"I think that's the point; it's a form of spiritual discipline, so it's not supposed to feel natural. But once you get used to it, you get to where you start looking forward to it. I just started going to church myself not too long ago, and now that I'm getting to know the songs they really touch me a lot more deeply."

Trixie looked up after picking a couple of burrs out of her tail. "So, then, is it true the doctrine forbids stuff like gay marriage?"

"Yeah. It has a lot of boundaries when it comes to sexual behavior. It says that even just lusting after someone, regardless of gender, is bad."

"Seriously?!"

"Yeah. The High One does not take sex lightly."

"But," Raye spoke up, "what's wrong with two males or two females getting married if they truly love each other? I don't see how that's hurting anything."

"Of course it is!" Amy snapped somewhat loudly. "It's messing up the whole balance of traditional family values!" Raye drew back a little but pressed on.

"How does it do that? Why can't a gay couple be considered a family? I think what's upsetting the balance is the fact that they're not being allowed to legally marry. I mean, I honestly don't see what's wrong with it, how it's hurting anyone."

Shadow breathed a low-key sigh. "I don't understand the point of marriage at all," he muttered, though by this point the girls' words were starting to overlap and it was unlikely anyone heard him.

"To be honest," Cedar squeezed in, "if the doctrine weren't against it, I probably wouldn't care. But because it is against it, I am too. I think the High One has His creation's best interest at heart, and when He forbids something, He does so for a good reason, even if we can't see it ourselves."

Amy and Raye started to talk again, but Trixie drowned them both out, "What I don' get is why gay marriage is getting to be considered so positive now, but not marriage with multiple spouses. What's up with that? And why not marriage between members of the same family?"

"_What??_" Amy nearly choked, while Raye gawked with a similar expression.

"Like, if gays are okay together because they're consenting adults, shouldn' multiple consenting adults be okay too? And why not an adult brother and sister? Or brother and brother or sister and sister, or even father-son or mother-daughter or whatever?"

Cocoa's ears went crooked. "What kind of sick thing is that to say?!"

"I mean, I'm not saying that _I_ wanna do that! I'm just saying I don' see the difference!"

"It's disgusting," Raye asserted, "that's the difference!"

"But a lot of people say that gay relationships are disgusting too, so who's right?"

Raye thought for a second, then shrugged. "Whichever side is the majority, I guess."

"Uh," Amy's tone crooked, "so if the majority of humans decides that Mobians should be enslaved to them, that justifies it?"

"I'm talking about something reasonable."

"They enslaved their own kind for years and thought that was reasonable!"

"Like I said," Cedar mumbled, "we should just trust the High One at His word. It's the only thing that stands with more authority than everyone's opinions."

From there all four arguing voices blended until they reached an unintelligible maelstrom. Shadow walked off, and Amy stopped to rub her temples.

Sonic hadn't defused the bomb; he'd just delayed it.

"_HEY!!!_" Cocoa suddenly roared, scaring the nearby birds from the trees and bringing the other girls to a wide-eyed standstill. "We've got a lot to do tomorrow and I'm really not in the mood for this, so how about we agree to disagree and then shut up and go to sleep?"

"Yeah," Amy sighed, "we'd better get some rest."

Lydia, who had been silent since the questions game, nodded with heavy fatigue. "Dhat is a good idea."

"Well, good night, everyone," Raye bid the sentiment first, though lacking most of her usual sunny charisma. The others responded in kind, then settled into their beds of fur for what was likely going to be a short night.

X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X

"_Poh poh poh poh poh poh poh!!_"

Trixie cringed as her fingertips clung to the end of her tail. "_What was that??_" she whispered to Cocoa, who barely moved.

"It's a boreal owl. Go back to sleep."

Nearby, Amy stirred and opened her eyes to see Shadow pacing the perimeter of the clearing. Unable to sleep herself, she crept to her feet and slowly approached him, no longer trying to hide the desperation in her eyes as they soon locked with his.

"Shadow," she used the mildest voice she could manage, "you're going to be passing through all of the sectors on your own route, right?"

"Right," he affirmed.

"Which one are you going to tomorrow?"

"I'll be heading to New Mobotropolis with Raye."

She paused for a moment, staring at the forest floor, then renewed her emerald iris' plea. "Could you come with me to Knothole instead?"

He raised an eyebrow at the request, though with his face turned from the moonlight it could hardly be seen. "It wouldn't be very efficient. I'd end up having to pass through here twice."

"I know, but it's important to me, Shadow. Please." She continued at his glowering hesitation, "This is _our son_ we're talking about."

"…All right," he answered after a forceful sigh. "But don't expect me to stay long."

Her hands clasped before her heart. "Thank you!" She watched fondly as he merely strode off grumbling something about her getting some sleep. With her mind at much greater ease, she quickly tiptoed back to her evergreen bed and curled into a fetal contour upon its meager comfort.

"_Dear Lord_," she whispered well beneath her breath, "_thank you for this day and everyone who's here to help find Mercury. Please help us to find him quickly, and until we do, please look after him and keep him safe. I ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, your Begotten One, that the promise He made might be fulfilled. Amen._"


	9. Forgotten Feelings

**Author's Note:** Now that we've gotten a glimpse at the girls' personalities and the priorities beneath them, it's time for Shadow to get to know them better…and perhaps they'll even learn a little about themselves. Amy is no exception; sometimes those closest to you can harbor the biggest surprises!

To my old and new readers alike, many thanks for your readership and support! Please be sure to review and let me know what you think (and which girl you're rooting for, if any)!

X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X

Chapter 9 – Forgotten Feelings

Morning broke hard. In the crisp chill that gripped the clearing, stiff silhouettes stirred beside the smoldering remnants of the fire. Little of the sun toiling to clear the horizon had yet managed to filter through the trees to them.

Amy strained to wrench her puffy eyelids apart. What little sleep she'd managed had been littered with nightmares, and now she was sitting up to what was increasingly beginning to feel like another. Several feet away, she could just make out Lydia discarding some fur limb bedding in a tangled pile at the edge of the clearing. The lynx clung onto one limb, stripping it of its now matted needles with several rakes of her claws. She returned with it to the dwindling camp, staking it into the heart of the glowing ashes and stirring vigorously as she scooped up and tossed in a few handfuls of dirt. Amy watched as she then stamped and ground at it with her open-toe sandals, effectively waking the rest of the girls in the process.

"Ungh," Cedar croaked, forcing one eye open, "is it time to get up already…?"

"Rise when you wish," Lydia replied, "but I am going tuh be leaving for my search now. It is bedder tuh go early when you go tuh deh jungle."

Rubbing a crick in her shoulder, Amy extended her other arm toward her friend. "You're heading out? Come give me a hug." As Lydia bent over to do so, Amy patted her on the back, a sudden flood of emotions wetting her eyes. "Be careful, and give me a call if you find anything at all. And Shadow." She glanced around a tufted ear at the motionless dark form poised at the mouth of the forest trail, supposing it to be him.

"Of course," Lydia assured her, then straightened herself and tugged down her tank top. "I will see you again soon."

The camp bustled with activity now. As Lydia grabbed a bag of fickleberries and strode off to begin her journey, Raye and the tanukis began gathering up their makeshift beds and Cedar wandered off to the nearby creek. Several minutes later, only Cedar's bedding remained, and the rest of the girls stood waiting.

"How long does it take her to pee and wash up?" Cocoa griped in fast waning patience. Trixie laughed, a bit loudly.

"Maybe a big, bloodthirsty river dolphin swam up and ate her!" She glanced with a goofy smile at her sister, waiting for her to point out that the creek was less than three inches deep, but all she did was turn away in stony silence. The other girls wore similar expressions, hardly interested after the night before in what she had to say. After a quick look around she took the hint and clammed up, hunching her neck with a nasal sigh.

Finally Cedar returned, still rubbing behind her dainty funnel ears to ensure she'd gotten every last bit of dirt off. Raye headed down to the creek next, well enough awake and already radiating her own measure of sunshine but having yet to say anything to anyone. As the process wore on and daylight began to fill the clearing, Shadow looked on at his party with a heavy scowl. If he'd been on his own he would have covered dozens of miles by now. Perhaps, he considered, getting so many others involved was a mistake.

Having put herself at the end of the washup line, Amy was last of the group to be ready. Only Shadow and Raye remained in the clearing when she returned from the creek. A somewhat remorseful tinge crept through her stomach at the others' hasty departure; she hoped she hadn't put anyone off with her stormy mood the night before. She was letting the stress get to her too much, and that wasn't good. If she was going to be there for Mercury, she silently coached herself, she had to keep it together.

"Um," she began, not entirely sure yet what she wanted to say, "thanks again, Raye, for coming to help out." She found herself studying the smiling nod she received in return.

"You're very welcome. Glad to help."

She was relatively certain the smile was more reserved than usual. Her thoughts berating her for having been such a monster, she turned to Shadow, who looked ready to add a few choice words to her list. She quickly turned back to Raye.

"Oh, Shadow told you he's coming with me for now, right?" Her heart gained three pounds at the yellow hedgehog's silent nod. "Okay…well…take care, and give us a call if you find anything."

"I will." And then Raye looked past her with renewed warmth. "Good luck!"

Shadow started for the trail winding into the northern depths of the Great Forest. "You too," he clipped the words. Stepping after, Amy cast one more glance at Raye before hurrying to join his side.

It felt as though the young morning was already beginning to fade back into dusk as they ventured deeper into the foreboding thicket, its vascular canopy devouring the growing light. Neither had said a word since they left, but as badly as Amy wanted to know what Shadow was hiding, she couldn't seem to think of a way to bring it up. Even more frustrating, she found herself falling farther and farther behind amidst the mounting impression that Shadow would prefer to lose her altogether.

Gritting her teeth, she drove her burning legs to move as fast as they would go in a sudden effort to close the gap, calling to him as she neared. "Could you slow down a little, please?" Though he respected her request, the annoyance in his voice burned in her ears.

"We're not making very good time."

"Sorry, I know I'm holding you up." Whenever she was out with Sonic and made a comment of that nature, usually he would respond in frivolous denial that she was any hindrance or would assure her it was no big deal. Shadow, however, merely continued onward without so much as a shift of the eyes in her direction. "I guess it's not helping that I could hardly get any sleep," she went on. Anything to get him to talk. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"No," he drew out the word, and for a moment it seemed he might say more, but he didn't. Amy thought on it for a second.

"Is it because you're worried about Mercury?" To no surprise, he hesitated to answer, and she pressed further, "Is there something you're not telling me?"

Now he looked back, his eyes slicing to hers in an indiscernible leer. They cut away just as quickly, essential to his hardly slowed pace.

She wasn't waiting anymore. "He's my son too! If something happened I want to know about it!" Her demand raced on her breath behind them, seemingly lost to the forest, but after a few moments longer it became clear that the ultimate life form was gliding to a gradual halt. She stumbled to nearly buckling knees and caught her breath just behind him, a hand to her dry throat.

"Mercury is starting to emanate Chaos," he informed her bluntly. "He nearly blew a hole in the wall at the apartment, and he wasn't even trying."

Her wide eyes snapped to him. "Oh my gosh!"

"Until he learns how to wield it properly," he added, "he's a danger to himself and others…so perhaps now you understand my urgency on this."

"Wh-why didn't you tell me sooner??" she half choked on the words.

He turned away, his arms folded. "I didn't want you to worry."

"How long has he been doing this?"

"Not long." His face took to one shoulder, just enough to make peripheral eye contact. "We should keep moving. The sooner we find him the less likely he'll be to have done any damage."

The pair had not been underway again for long when the elaborate walls of a distant palace emerged amidst a valley that gaped beyond the approaching bluff. "Is that it?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah. It's been a while, but I think there's a trail that leads down over this way." Amy pointed an arm to their right, blinking when a shack-sized stone structure caught her eye. She didn't recall that being there last time. Shadow had noticed it too; he wasted no time coasting over for a better look. One end of the simple building, he discovered, bore a wooden doorway, its face carved into an acorn-shaped window. He squinted as he peered inside.

"What is this place?" his words filed into the acorn. Amy jogged over as well, about to express comparable ignorance when a male voice answered from behind the door.

"This is the lift to the royal palace."

Blinking in surprise, Amy took a couple of steps closer. "There's someone in there?" Her curious eyes followed Shadow as he stepped back and pulled the door open with only a fleeting glance her way. "What did he say? Something about the royal palace?" Her breath hung in her mouth as she peeked in to the sight of an albino armadillo robed in the uniform of the royal guard. Beside him stood two larger doorways, one closed off with a sliding metal door and the other containing a lighted compartment with benches built into its walls, offering enough room for about four occupants.

"This is the lift to the royal palace, ma'am," the guard stated again, bringing the machete in his hands upright and resting the end on the floor beside him.

"Oh _wow_," Amy breathed as she stepped into the shack. "This wasn't here at all before!" Shadow followed her in, alternating glances between the lift and the guard.

"Have you seen any other hedgehogs come through here in last two weeks?"

"No, sir, not on my shift."

Amy pivoted to face them. "We better look, just in case." Shadow nodded toward the lift.

"How long does it take?"

"About four minutes," the armadillo answered, cracking a smile, "but if you're in a hurry I can make it go faster."

"Good." Shadow then looked to Amy, gesturing her toward the lift with a crook of the neck. She stepped in carefully, her tired legs wobbling slightly as it bobbed in the shaft, and took a seat. He entered close behind her and seated himself on the opposite side.

The guard reached up to the edge of the compartment door. "Enjoy your visit." He pulled it down with a tight, rusty shriek, and from within the enclosure, they could hear him forcing down another. In the momentary silence that followed, the hedgehogs' eyes met.

Amy cleared her throat, which resonated like a chainsaw in the tiny lift. "…Mercury wasn't hurt when he blew up the wall, was he?"

"No." Tucking his chin nearly to his chest, Shadow folded his arms and stared into them, avoiding her lingering gaze.

Two heavy pounds sounded overhead, and the lift bobbed again, sharply this time. An electronic buzz filled the shaft. Drawing her feet closer, Amy glanced about.

"I don't understand why he hasn't-_aaaah_!!" she cried out as the lift abruptly plummeted in a near freefall, her arms flailing up. Shadow braced a hand against the wall, clutching the edge of his seat with the other. The drop lasted a ten-second eternity, until the lift shuddered to a two-second halt. From the floor where she'd tumbled, Amy lifted her head for a dazed look around. Shadow was just reaching down to help her up when the lift jolted to the left, sending both their faces planted into its wall. Then, finally, the movement eased to a much more comfortable pace, allowing the occupants to return growling and groaning to their benches.

The transit took a little over two minutes in all. Once the lift had ground to a noisy but much smoother stop, more uniformed guards opened the door and showed the hedgehogs out to a massive marble staircase that paraded up to the premises of the royal palace. Topside, dozens of Mobians roamed the grounds, many of which, Amy noted, were children. She stood scanning for anyone resembling her son when Shadow's voice cut into her conscience.

"Which way leads to the throne?"

She pivoted to face him, her brow high. "You want to see the king and queen?"

"Yes," he sufficed, neglecting to meet her prodding stare.

"Well…it's been a while, but maybe it'll come back to me once I'm inside." She started for the enormous double doors gracing the front of the palace. "Come on," she beckoned, though Shadow was already closing the short gap.

Propped wide apart, the gold-adorned iron doors welcomed scores of visitors into their towering gape. Amy peered up as she passed under one of the thick brass rings hanging from the cap of a shining acorn—the emblem of the reigning kingdom. Beyond it, a grand ballroom spanned several yards, complete with massive pillars, chandeliers, and ornate oak-themed carvings lining the ceiling. At the far end she noted another set of doors, slightly more modest but still nothing short of impressive. "That way," she directed Shadow, shuffling around several tourists in an effort to find a way through.

A firm hand grasped hers, and she suddenly found herself being towed behind him as he brusquely plowed a path through the crowd for them. Though she shied her face from the unappreciative glares in their wake, inwardly a spark of newfound admiration glimmered within her at his refusal to let anything stand in the way of what was clearly a very important objective for him. It helped ease some of the concerns and anger consuming her over the new details he'd just recently divulged and the fact that he'd just recently divulged them.

A wide corridor stretched from the second doorway several more yards, then expanded into a semi-circular chamber. Three more sets of doors split up the path, leading left, right, and straight ahead. Luxurious, deep red carpet trailed out beneath the central doors a couple of feet. "Oh, now I remember!" Amy spoke up at the sight. "The red carpet leads to the throne room."

With a short nod, Shadow stepped up and pulled the handle of one of the central doors, which despite being a fraction of the size of the previous ones proved remarkably heavy. He'd managed to budge it about an inch when a vaguely familiar female voice echoed loudly through the room.

"Hey! What do ya think you're doin'?"

Allowing the door to pound shut, Shadow turned with his chest and fists tight. He'd only heard the voice once before, but he'd never forget who was behind it—that half-mechanical freak of a lop-eared rabbit.

Amy exclaimed, "Bunnie!"

"Oh," Bunnie quieted, her boisterous demeanor receding as she recognized her old friend, "Amy, hi! How ya been, Hon?"

"Not too bad, I guess. How've you been?"

"Oh, just fine! Sure can't complain!" Then she pointed a thumb at Shadow. "This here person with you?"

"Yeah, he's with me," Amy confirmed in a somewhat sheepish air. "We're here to see Sally about something."

Bunnie broke another disdainful glance at the less welcome guest to answer. "Well then, how 'bout I give y'all a royal escort? I'm sure Sally'll be happy to see you!"

"Sure, if it's no trouble."

Unapologetically brushing Shadow aside, Bunnie took hold of the door handle with her mechanical hand, half-sneering a role-reversed formality. "Allow me." Grunting mildly, she took a step back as the door yawned wide. Shadow's eyes trailed along her peculiar limbs as he wordlessly passed through. Trotting shortly behind him, Amy flashed a grateful smile.

"Thanks, Bunnie!"

"Not a problem, Sugar!"

From room to room and throughout each hall, Bunnie's distinctive drawl echoed into thin returns as she detailed the latest issues concerning the kingdom. "…And while on the one hand it's been better for the plant life," she carried on, "it's also startin' to cause problems for all the folks who live along the floodplain. Sally said she and Volar have been tryin' to get a solution worked out, but they way those folks at the flood plain are talkin', they want half the town relocated, and that's just silly. She's gettin' pretty disgusted with the whole thing, and I don't blame her."

"Um, is this a bad time to visit?" Amy asked after a moment.

"Oh, no, this sorta thing's happenin' all the time! If you tried to wait 'til she didn't have anythang goin' on, you'd be waitin' forever!" The girls shared a quick laugh, and Bunnie grasped the handle of the final door, a much more modest-sized wooden construct that opened with ease. "Here we are." Leading the way in, she projected a king-sized greeting. "Your Majesties have a special guest!"

Peering past the empty throne beside her, Queen Sally leaned forward in her own for a better view. "Special guest? …Oh!" She got to her feet, the silky, pearl-embellished gown she now wore a far cry from the simple vest and boots she'd frequently donned back when she reigned as little more than the head of a resistance movement against Dr. Robotnik. "Amy…Amy Rose? Is that you?" she recalled as she descended a short flight of carpeted steps to meet them.

Amy returned a blushing smile and nod, bowing a bit as she responded. "Yes…uh…Your Highness." The queen scoffed away the formality.

"Oh, please, you can call me Sally, just like before." Her hands gripped Amy's shoulders. "Gosh, look at you! You look so grown up and lovely! --And who's this?' She loosed her hold to face the guest silently standing by. Amy turned to introduce them, but he spoke first.

"I'm Shadow the hedgehog."

"Shadow…?" Sally echoed. "Oh, of course! Sonic spoke very well of you the last time I saw him. It's nice to finally meet you." She blinked in thought, paying no notice to the looks of disbelief on the hedgehogs' faces. "Speaking of Sonic, how is he?" Her eyes jumped back to Amy.

"Oh, uh, he's fine! He's out helping look for someone…which is why we're here, actually."

"Oh?"

Again Shadow broke in quickly. "My son is missing, and he's in danger."

"Oh my gosh," Sally's voice nearly cracked. "Was he kidnapped?"

"No," he glanced down as he answered, pausing a moment before explaining, "he ran away."

An overly amused snort echoed through the throne room, and everyone turned to Bunnie, who sidled away with an awkward shrug. "I'll let y'all talk. I'm gonna go see if I can find the His Missin' Majesty."

Sally nodded. "Thanks, Bunnie." She touched a hand to Shadow's shoulder, nodding cordially as he whipped away from his glare at the departing rabbit. "Please go on."

"…He needs to be found as soon as possible," he resumed, a bit unevenly. "The fact that he left of his own accord is irrelevant."

"Of course," the queen agreed. "I can assemble a team of scouts to search the region."

Shadow shook his head. "We've already got a search party. All I ask is that you inform me if you should spot him in this area."

"All right. Do you have a picture of him or something to go by?"

"I do," Amy offered, retrieving her cel phone. While she navigated the digital menus of her device, Sally slipped an accessory of her own out of a pocket lining the rich purple hem of her dress.

"Let me see if I can transfer the data wirelessly to NICOLE."

"Nicole?" Amy cast a blank frown at the lemon-sized computer in Sally's hand. "Oh! Wow, it looks so different!"

"Actually, this is NICOLE2, who's like something of a 'daughter' version we derived from the original, basically a simpler model." Opening the device like a clam, Sally spoke loudly into it. "NICOLE. I've got a digital photo that I need to download from a cel phone. Can you wirelessly receive that?"

"Yes, Sally," the machine answered in a synthetic female voice. "Is the phone able to make calls here?" It waited as Sally glanced up at Amy, who nodded.

"Yes it is," Sally verified.

"Very well. Transmit the file via picture mail to the number zero-zero-five-two-two-three-four. I will intercept the signal."

While Amy followed NICOLE2's instructions, Sally stepped between the two hedgehogs. "Before you head out, you both are more than welcome to join Volar and me for lunch," she spoke of the king. Shadow shifted his weight, adding some to his cross-armed demeanor.

"We should be heading out," he stated, seemingly more to Amy than Sally. "There's still a lot of ground to cover." Moments later, Amy looked up.

"Sorry, what?"

Sally smiled through a lighthearted sigh. "At least let me pack some food to take with you." She strode briskly for the nearest door, unwilling to take no for an answer this time. "Come with me."

The palace kitchen, though lacking in the lavish embellishments that graced the main halls and each room intended for royal use, boasted an enormous pantry stocked with enough food to feed half the kingdom. Sally personally selected and bundled a combination of small, lightweight, and nutritious snacks to help sustain the hedgehogs on their journey. The entire process took only minutes, but Shadow nonetheless paced the length of the kitchen, too nagged at every mutilated end of his toiling introspection to afford a moment's rest.

"This ought to do for a while," Sally chirped as she finished securing the canvas-bound bundles on a nearby table. "They're tied so you can slip your arms through the openings here and wear them like backpacks." As Shadow retrieved them, she reached to cup a hand over his shoulder, but the gesture fell short as he drew sharply away. Substituting an apologetic smile, she instead clasped her hands. "Feel free to stop in again for a replenishment if you're back in the area."

Shadow nodded, then hung his head in silence for a moment. "…Thank you…for everything," he expressed as only his eyes lifted to hers, his gratitude extending far beyond his visit to a pardon he'd received long before they'd met.

"You're very welcome, Shadow…but really, you should thank Sonic. It's because of him that I know that I can welcome you with open arms into my home." Her head tilted a bit as she studied his face. "You know, now that I look at you, you resemble Sonic in a lot of ways."

"Hmph," he snorted under his breath, straining to keep his expression from betraying his offense. Quickly his mind switched subjects, and he glanced to the pantry door. "…Where's Amy?"

"I thought she was out here with you."

"No, I assumed she was in the pantry with you." He exhaled into a near growl as he grabbed the other canvas bundle and headed for the kitchen door.

In the cloudy courtyard, Amy sat on a stone bench beside a trellis covered with the dry, brown vines of the previous summer, dialing out on her cel phone. It rang four times before Lydia answered.

"Hey, Lydia? How's it going?"

"Hello, Ms. Amy," the lynx's voice crackled through. "The search is going vedy slow here because of all deh rain. Have you found anydhing?"

"Nothing so far…but I wanted to talk to you about Shadow. You were right, Lydia. He _was_ hiding something!"

After listening intently as Amy explained the Chaotic circumstances with Mercury, Lydia's voice dropped a full octave. "Well………dhis is vedy impordant, what he has dold you…but…." she trailed into a long pause.

"But what?"

"It is…hard to explain…but what he has dold you, it is not deh same feeling dhat I got from him."

"What do you mean?"

"I dhink…dhat he is hiding somedhing else."

"Something _else_??"

"It is somedhing that does not make him feel afraid…it is just…mmm, deh sad feeling you get when you do somedhing wrong."

"Like…regret?"

"I dhink dhat is deh word, yes."

A light tap on Amy's shoulder sent her springing in fright off the bench. Her phone tumbled across the grass as she nearly collided with the trellis.

"Oh my stars!" Bunnie rattled, tromping clumsily to her side to help her up. "I am so sorry! I thought I heard ya talkin' on the phone so I tapped ya on the shoulder to let ya know I was here so I _wouldn't_ scare ya! So much for that idear!"

"It's okay," Amy laughed breathlessly. "I thought you were Shadow for a second!"

Bunnie made a face. "Oh. I sure can't say I blame ya there. I'd be all jumpin' too if he touched me!"

Plucking her phone from the ground, Amy shielded its screen from the daylight as she checked it. "Hello? Lydia? …Hey, I'll talk to you later, okay? Okay, bye!" She snapped it shut and turned back to Bunnie, who was sitting as cross-legged as her metal limbs could manage on one end of the bench.

"So how'd ya get all mixed up in this business of finding _that_ weird-hog's son? Ain't ya got a kid of your own to watch?"

Amy blinked as she eyed the tender grass peeking out from between the cobblestones lining the nearby garden trail. She moseyed to the bench and seated herself on the other end, facing mostly away from Bunnie. "Mercury's important to me too. He's a really sweet boy…and…I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if anything happened to him…."

"Mm, I guess kids can have that kinda effect, even if they do come from creeps. But I just can't imagine what kinda girl would wanna do it with someone like Shadow! Eugh!" The bunny belle shuddered, hardly noticing Amy's prolonged silence.

"…He's really not that bad," she finally said, her voice somewhat stony. "I know he can come across kind of creepy sometimes, but deep down he's really a good guy."

"Where is his girl, anyway? Why ain't she here, or did she get sick of him and take off?"

Amy sighed. "She's helping look…."

"Well, I hope the kid's okay, but with a dad like that, he might be better off if you don't find him!"

"Will you shut up about Shadow already?!"

Now she was on her feet, facing Bunnie with her fists clenched at her sides. Her hard-wired friend gaped with her ears trailing flat behind her, flinching with each point.

"Shadow might not have Sonic's natural charm, and I'd be the first to admit he's got some issues he needs to work through, but he's not a monster either! He's my friend, and I'm sick of you putting him down! You don't even know him!"

"Calm down, Sugar!" Bunnie pleaded, her natural hand raised defensively. "I didn't mean to hurt y'all none!"

"How could you say all that and not mean any harm?!"

"I mean…! I just…oh-wuh, you're right…." Her metal hand pressed to her heart as she pouted to herself. "I'm sorry, Rose-Hog. I guess I let my dumb ol' tongue get carried away. I really am sorry."

Amy heaved a calming sigh, feeling suddenly hot. "I'm sorry too, for snapping at you. I've been stressed out lately, and I'm just…tired of everyone saying things…or _not_ saying things when I want them to…." She sighed again.

"I'm so sorry. Hey, any friend of yours can't be all that bad. I promise I won't say anything else about Shadow-Hog 'til I get to know him. Deal?" The fleshy hand extended for a shake, and Amy slipped into a subtle smile as she took it.

"Thanks."

Only the warbles of distant Flickies filled the silence between them for a lazy brush of the clouds after that. Amy had taken to sitting again, her line of sight fixed either on the sky or her feet, while Bunnie picked scum from between the joints of her mechanical digits, until finally the cyber-rabbit worked up the nerve to broach a lighter topic.

"…So how's Sonic doin' these days?"

"He's…Sonic," Amy summed up fittingly enough. "One day you're ready to absolutely strangle him, and then he does something so sweet…and then he has you ready to choke him again." She laughed lightly along with Bunnie's hearty chuckle.

"I know _exactly_ what you mean!"

Lapsing back into her ever-present worries, Amy soon shed her smile and glazed over, quiet until her eyes fell on her folded hands.

"Oh, he gave me this ring for our anniversary this year."

Bunnie gasped. "Ohhhhhh my staaaaaaaaaars!!"

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"That's got to be one of the most gorgeous rings I've ever seen in my life!" Another chuckle escaped the rural rabbit. "Back when he lived 'round here I thought for sure he was gonna get together with Sally, but look how things done turned out! Bet you're glad ya never gave up waitin' on him, right, Honey-Hog?" She smiled amiably, but it was all Amy could do to force one in return. They were still leaning over the sparkling band when a door behind them scraped open and Shadow peered out.

"Hey," he prompted Amy, who twisted around.

"You ready to go?" she asked, springing to her feet.

"I've _been_ ready. I've been looking for you." His eyes shifted to Bunnie's mechanized limbs again. She glowered back momentarily before turning away.

"Take care, Bunnie," Amy mumbled, already on her way to the door when Bunnie replied in kind. "Come on, let's go," she urged Shadow as she slipped past him inside, then muttered to herself, "_Can't wait to get out of here."_


	10. Haunted

**Author's Note:** Whew, finally. My apologies for taking so long on chapters lately! The lack of free time to write these days has been increasingly frustrating for me, but after rushing through chapter 9 I decided it would be best, both for the story and my health, to just take it easy and get it done when I get it done. Thus, chapter 10 is the result of quite a few weeks of careful attention to detail between work and a whole lot of other stuff. Hope you enjoy, and if you could take a moment out afterward to post a review, I'd really love to know what you think! Shall I continue to detail the girls more in-depth or cut a bit quicker to the chase? Your feedback counts!

X x X x X x X x X x X

Chapter 10 - Haunted

"…Did you hear that?"

Shadow hadn't heard anything. His mind lingered far behind him, lost in the maze of trees crowning the kingdom he'd hours ago left behind. The thicket had since thinned into wooded clusters winding along the crests and dells of endless hills, but likewise, he saw none of it. His conscience brimmed, utterly consumed, with the image of Amy's teary emerald eyes, the haunting remnant of their parting words before he'd left the Great Forest.

"_Please_," she'd nearly begged, "_if you find or hear anything or think of anything, or, or if you just want to talk, __**please**__ call me. I don't care if it's two o' clock in the morning! Just call me, okay?_" By the time she'd finished she had a fistful of his chest fur poking out between her fingers. He'd stared a bit wide-eyed down at the mildly stinging gesture; she hadn't touched him like that since….

"What?" he turned and snapped at Cedar, who stood waving a hand in front of his face. The timid mouse pulled back quickly and wrapped her fingers around a small tube of sunblock clutched in her other hand.

"Are you okay? You didn't seem to hear anything I was saying."

He exhaled hard but forced the edge from his tone. "I was thinking."

"Oh." A glaze seemed to form over her own eyes as her gaze wandered off across the hills ahead. Her off-amber fur rippled against the gusty breeze, and as she leaned into it, the lower end of her dress' asymmetrical hem swam beside her knees. Shadow fixated on it for a moment before trailing up to her wind-bent ears.

"…Are you finished?"

"Huh?" She swerved about as if startled.

"With that," he spoke of the lotion, tilting a nod its direction.

"Oh! Oh yeah, I just needed a little, for the middle part of my ears where there's hardly any fur." Crooking one of the tender funnels for him to see, she ran a finger along the exposed skin. "It burns really easily." She cast a quick glance past him into a sparse pocket of woods as she tucked the tube into her waistline sash. "Ready when you are."

Between her soft spoken voice and the wind, Shadow only heard something to the effect of little hard burns, but her body language spoke for itself. He toed off into a brisk descent, checking with a brief glimpse over his shoulder that she was keeping up—only she wasn't behind him. Blinking, he whipped his face about, finding her well in sync on his other side. It was nothing extraordinary, considering his own speed, but she was certainly faster than Amy.

And in the blur of motion…she bore a surprising resemblance to Maple.

He frowned as he continued on, unable to stem the fresh tide of memories that flooded to mind. The tranquil green expanse on every side made it too easy to become lost in the past; the next city couldn't come soon enough.

His quills hugged the canvas tote swaying behind his shoulder as he looked to Cedar again. "How much farther is it to Peony Glade?" With just over 10,000 residents, it was the most populated town in the vicinity by far, and being situated along the main route leading from Knothole, it seemed the most likely one a wandering youth would encounter.

"Mm, at this rate probably another hour," Cedar guessed, "but we'll be coming up on Woodbrick soon."

"How big is that?"

"Not very big. I'd say it's about a third the size of Peony Glade." She hesitated a moment, then added, "That's where I live!"

"Your home is in Woodbrick?"

"Yeah."

Another thought occurred to Shadow. "…Do you have Internet?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I may be able to retrieve some information of use…assuming you've no issue with my using it." He glanced to her again, watching her face for reluctance or outright offense. The look she returned seemed agreeable, however, almost pleased.

"Sure! It'll give me a chance to take care of a few things while you're at it."

"Of course."

By now part of Woodbrick had crept into view, an amusingly close-quarters community for its size, its expanse limited by a steep incline on one side and a sizable river on the other. A sprinkling of relatively tall buildings sprang from its midst, each constructed with mostly natural materials to suit its subtle surroundings. In the outskirts, the remnants of a few homes foolishly built upon the floodplain stood empty in permanent, mud-stained bows to the force that had bested them years ago.

From a distance the town had appeared inviting enough, but as they drew near and Cedar took the lead, a notably grungy trend along the eastern end became difficult for Shadow to overlook. Even more disturbing than the run-down houses and unkempt yards, he noticed a number of ominous eyes following them down practically every other street.

He had to ask. "You live in this part of town?"

"Um, yeah, not too far from here." From her tone he knew she'd picked up on his discomfort. "The other side of town is nicer, but it's a lot more expensive."

They rounded a corner, and in a forebodingly questionable coincidence, a few of the unsavory strangers decided to do the same. Though their pace had slowed to a decidedly casual stride and the individuals trailing them were, at least for the time being, keeping their distance, Shadow felt his chest tighten as a flashback rushed him of his frantic final moments with Maria aboard the ARK, fleeing through strobe-splashed corridors in their doomed escape. However much subtler, this moment somehow felt too much like it.

He blinked rapidly and forced the scene from his mind. "Do you know those guys behind us?" his tone flattened. Cedar's swirly hazel eyes edged wide, and she glanced back at the badger, grizzly, and jaguar less than a block away.

"N-no…." Shadow leaned his head in to make out the rest as her already weak voice tapered, "You get some weirdos who follow you sometimes, but they usually don't cause any trouble. Just ignore them unless they get too close." She pointed with due discretion to the street beneath the overpass they'd begun to cross. "My complex is just behind that alley on our right, on the lower level. There's a ramp leading down on the next street, but I usually take the long way around to make sure nobody follows me and sees where I live."

"Probably wise." After another squint at the stalkers, Shadow peered over the rail. "If we go down from here and move quickly, we can lose them without taking the longer route."

"Go down?" The mouse tensed. "You mean jump?"

"Yes."

Her feeble hands gripped the rail as she briefly leaned over. "…It's…kinda far down…."

"Climb down the side, then," he referred to the steep rise of jagged rocks cemented into the edges of the overpass. Deeming the idea simple enough, he didn't wait for her to respond before whisking himself over the railing. His skates' nozzles met the street below with a metallic snarl as he landed ready to go. Shifting his sights upward, he found himself staring into the unmistakable face of fear. "…What's wrong?" he called across the gap.

"I…I'm not sure I can…make it…."

She sounded like Maria.

Though the time he had spent with Maria on the ARK hadn't even lasted a year, it felt as though the adventures they'd shared aboard that tiny colony, even those robbed from his memories, were more significant than most of the other experiences in his life. Maybe it was more or less forced due to some post-traumatic psychological disposition, but they always seemed to relate to whatever he encountered somehow. In this case, Cedar's inability to effectively navigate the terrain seemed more typical of a young human girl. Some of the places and predicaments he'd dragged Maria into called for a level of dexterity she didn't and would never have; he'd assumed it was a trait occurring naturally in Mobians until now.

"Do you need help?" It felt weird for him to ask.

"..Um…if it's no trouble…."

Of course it was trouble. This should have been easy for her, yet there she stood as if helpless. Nevertheless, he reacted the way he usually had when Maria had found herself unable to follow him on inconvenient routes. Finding a foothold on the rock wall, he jumped hard, landing only for a moment on the side of the bridge before springing back outward and performing a homing dash to fling himself topside. Cedar scrambled needlessly aside.

"Here," he offered with an outstretched hand, "I'll carry you."

The creeps were nearing the overpass. Rather than waste more time waiting on whatever hesitancies she retained to settle, he stepped over and swept her legs up into one arm, the other curling securely behind her. She barely had time to gasp before he leapt with her over the rail again. He winced as his knees absorbed the extra weight on the level below, but he immediately proceeded to head from there into the alley.

It was a short, clear-cut maze, and what he saw on the other side surprised him. Here, businesses and apartments boasted clean windows and fresh coats of paint. Birds were singing. The scent of flowers mingled with the breeze instead of trash. If was almost as if he'd warped into another town.

Cedar still draped his arms, stiff and covering both eyes with her hands. She flinched with a start as he began to lower her feet to the ground, and she blinked as her hands came down.

"Oh, sorry." She stood and quickly twirled about to face him. "I mean, thanks!"

"Which way now?" he returned, crossing his arms.

She glanced the way they'd come, her ears honed in. "Uhh…over here," she mumbled as she began to lead the way.

X x X x X x X x X x X

On the opposite side of the world portal, roaring low over the Santa Monica Mountains following a bird's-eye tour of Los Abatidos, Tails passed another long skybound hour recounting some of his favorite online videos to Sonic.

"…And when he wakes up he makes this face and then he says, 'You may want to wear your D-Pants,' and you can hear a sloshing sound when he sits up and starts to scoot off. That part made me L-O-L!"

"Oh, dude," Sonic chuckled more at the expression than the joke, "you've gotta lay off the computers! You're gettin' sucked into the nerd zone!"

"What, because I said L-O-L?" The fox faulted into somewhat sheepish laughter. "Cedar thinks it's funny when I say that!"

Sonic shook his head. "She must be a geek too!"

"Heh, she's definitely into personal computers. She's teaching me how to make my own web site!"

"Wait, hold up," Sonic cut in, staring at the device on his wrist. "Shadow's phone is vibrating. He must've found something."

Tails furrowed his brow. "Err…." he trailed off, blinking.

"Hello?" Sonic attempted to answer, to no reply. He tried again and again after pressing each button on the device, but not even its tiny display would respond. "Hello? …Hello? …Be nice if I could just figure out how to…hello? …Hello? …How the heck do you use this thing?"

"Here, let me see." Keeping one hand on the centre stick, Tails reached the other behind him, which lingered patiently while Sonic fumbled with the unresponsive controls a while longer. Finally the frustrated hedgehog tugged it off and turned it over.

"Huh…it didn't seem this complicated when Shadow showed it to me earlier," Tails remarked as he examined the band. He'd depressed a few different combinations of buttons when its display came to life with a subtle illumination. "Oh, here we go!" He read the screen. "Looks like it's a text message."

Sonic leaned to the side, his ear folded against the glass canopy as he strained to see. "From Shadow? What's it say?"

"Uhh…I'm not sure who it's from…doesn't say…but it seems to have GPS coordinates."

"Awesome! Enter it into your lil' navigator and let's finish this goose chase!" Sonic bounced eagerly in his seat while Tails continued to experiment with the buttons.

"It's just kind of funny because I didn't think Shadow was…oop."

He stopped bouncing and quickly leaned forward again. "Oops? Whaddaya mean oops?"

"I lost the message…hang on a sec…." Tails streamed a tense sigh as he punched in more combinations, tuning out Sonic's groan from the back seat. Several seconds passed.

"…You get it?"

"No…."

"Push whatever you pushed the first time!"

"I'm…I tried that! It's not…it keeps going to some 'ENTER' mode."

"See if you can turn it off or clear it out or-"

"Hang on, be quiet, let me think!"

Drumming his fingers, Sonic glanced away from the comms band at the world below. His eyes flew wide.

"Tails, LOOK OUT!"

The teenage fox snapped his head up to the sight of a tall cluster of trees brimming the nearest mountain peak.

And they were heading right for it.

"Hang on!" he yelped, dropping the comms band and yanking the centre stick toward him. The plane made a frighteningly unusual sound in its sharp ascent, shortly after which a deafening metallic rend confirmed their fears.

They hadn't cleared the trees.

X x X x X x X x X x X

Hacking into Mercury's Facebook account had been easy enough…if it could even be called hacking. Shadow had first attained access to his son's e-mail account by answering the security question of his favorite childhood toy, which he knew to be his parasect plush Mushi…or had been, rather, until Misty had ripped the claws off. From there all he'd had to do was e-mail himself the Facebook password reset code. Now he sat scrolling through the latest entries via Cedar's computer, seeking clues as to Mercury's probable whereabouts. He inwardly chided himself for neglecting in his haste to think of it sooner.

The most recent wall activity came in the form of a brief but interesting update Mercury had made to his status. "Can't wait to see my MAFIA friends at the Mobianime convention this weekend!" he'd announced. Upon further investigation, Shadow learned that MAFIA was a social group on the site, its name an acronym that stood for Mobian Anime Fans in America.

Whew.

The convention, he went on to read, was held every year in the major city of Los Abatidos, California—certainly not an unthinkable trek for Mercury. Only one issue stood out; the event had already taken place, nearly two weeks ago. The chances of his still being in the area were hardly worth considering.

"Find anything?" Cedar asked as she poked her head in the door.

"Nothing useful."

"Let me know when you're finished so I can check the news, 'kay?"

"I'm finished," Shadow asserted, rolling the chair away from her desk. There were other e-mails and posts in the accounts that had caught his eye, things he hadn't known his son was up to, but now was not the time to be pouring over that. Following up on those details would come another day, on a browser that wasn't decorated with the Cheesecake Parade persona.

Cedar blinked at his brief online stint. "Oh, already? All righty!" She popped into the chair moments after he'd climbed out, pulling herself to the desk with both hands. Shadow observed for a while as her fingers danced across the keyboard, then turned his attention to the rest of her bedroom.

She wasn't a mouse; she was a packrat. Lining shelves along each wall and even hanging from nails behind her unmade bed, an assortment of video game-themed plushes, sculptures, crafts, pictures, figurines, accessories, and other trinkets seemed to defy number. Between that and the Wild Weather calendar on the wall, it looked more as though someone like Mercury lived there than an adult who was at least twice his age. Their tastes appeared to bear some striking similarities, in fact. Shadow had for years struggled to identify with his son on that level. Had it really been so difficult?

He'd been eyeing the scene for several moments when an awareness crept upon him of Cedar's lingering pause at the computer. He blinked and turned to find her staring at him. "Uhh…." An awkward smile filled her hesitation. "I don't mean to be mean or anything, but would you mind waiting in the living room? I have a hard time concentrating when someone's standing behind me." She apologized as he wordlessly stepped out the door but wasted no time getting back to business, a thin echo of clicks and clacks reaching him well past the end of the hall.

It caught his eye from across the living room. Shadow moved to it as if called, his subtle frown tensing in a nauseating moment of recognition. He lifted it from the bookshelf cradled in both hands, the ugly ceramic rooster crafted with its crooked beak gaping in mid crow. It looked exactly like the one that had resided in Maple's home. His thumb brushed the contours of its tail feathers, halting when it encountered a chip in the bottommost one—the chip Mercury had caused when he was two. It _was_ Maple's.

He'd never forgotten what Tails had told him in the mall that day, but until now, he hadn't truly considered the significance of how he'd wound up in whose home he now stood. How ironic that the sister of the very individual who'd threatened Mercury's life was so actively involved in the effort to ensure his well being.

Or was she?

Shadow shook his head. Surely he wasn't about to entertain the notion that she'd joined the search just to pursue a psychotic episode of vengeance. She hardly seemed the type, and besides, she was one of the ones spouting most of the religious talk at the camp site. And Tails obviously trusted her…young, naïve Tails, who hadn't even questioned why she was so interested in meeting the individual who'd killed her own sister. There'd only be one reason he'd ever want to meet the guy who shot Maria…and it wouldn't be to make friends. Suddenly the mouse's unusually helpless nature seemed a lot more suspicious.

He was still clutching the ceramic rooster, staring into it, when Cedar called to him from her room. "Shadow?" He turned and stared at the bedroom door, saying nothing. She added a little more loudly, "You might want to come see this."

He stood fast. "What is it?"

"There's breaking news online about a small plane crash…and I think it's Miles'!"

Immediately replacing the rooster, Shadow now made a hastened return to her room, though reserving his paranoia's share of caution. Cedar sat reviewing the article, pausing to open a photo on a new browser tab to display it full size. "See? Isn't that his jet?"

"It is," Shadow agreed. "Where did it crash, and why?"

"It says it wasn't too far from Los Abatidos, but they don't know what caused it to go down. When they got to the wreckage it was empty, so hopefully that means Miles and Sonic are okay."

Silence pervaded as the details sank in.

"…I'll ensure Amy knows," Shadow half sighed, heading back out of the room. This time he continued past the living room out the front door, granting himself some privacy. Squinting in the early evening sun, he examined the mobile phone strapped to his wrist. It was nothing like the comms band he'd loaned to Sonic; it bore only three huge buttons, one of which was labeled CALL, another END, and the third being a volume rocker. He depressed CALL.

"_Whom do you wish to call?_" a computerized voice answered. Apparently it was voice operated.

"Amy," he spoke into it, then stared as it remained silent a few more seconds. Finally it responded again.

"_Calling Andy._"

"Andy?" Shadow's ears bent as he made a face at the device, mashing END when it began to ring. He then pressed CALL again.

"_Whom do you wish_-"

"**Amy**," he enunciated thickly. A few more seconds passed.

"_Calling Andy._"

"Frickin'…." He punched END three more times, accidentally depressing CALL in the process. "Piece of crap…."

"_The number for 'piece of crap' not found. Would you like to add this contact?_"

END END END END END END END. TALK.

"_**Amy Rose**_," he growled into the phone before it could even begin to ask. It seemed to remain quiet forever.

"_Calling Amy Rose._"

Shadow huffed a sigh and then inhaled deeply, attempting to clear his mind. After a couple of rings, Amy's phone directed the call to voice mail.

"Hi, this is Amy Rose! Sorry I missed your call, but if you leave me a message, I'll be sure to get back with you as soon as I can! Thanks!"

"Amy, it's Shadow," he began after the beep. "I just received word that Tails' plane went down near L-A, but they weren't in it when it crashed, so as far as I know they're all right. Haven't heard anything else." He pressed END at that, turning around to find Cedar standing in the doorway. He took a couple of steps back.

She smiled meekly. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah."

They'd only taken a few steps from the door when she froze, her ears perked. "Wait!" she urged Shadow, who eyed her warily. "It's that sound again! You hear it?"

He glanced aside. "…What sound?"

"It's…like a really high-pitched, digital kind of…eee-_ee_-eeee," she attempted to mimic the noise, her fingers crooking in front of her like the legs of a dead spider. "—There! There it goes again! You hear it?" She waited as he strained to listen. After several seconds, he shook his head.

"No."

"..It's stopped now," she noted with a pout.

He exhaled in waning patience. "You're familiar with this area, so I'd like to do a quick check of the local shopping centers and restaurants before we head to Peony Glade."

"Oh, okay. I'll take you to the strip downtown. It's pretty popular."

A "popular" location in Woodbrick translated into only a few dozen patrons' worth of traffic, it turned out, but the high ratio of children to adults undoubtedly warranted a closer survey. Mercury could easily slip into this kind of crowd without much notice.

Peering into each window and doorway as they strode along a short stretch of shops, Shadow paused every so often for a second glance at a young face. Each time he did so Cedar would nearly bump into his backside, stopping only an inch or two short of a faceful of quill, until finally she opted to help keep watch at his side rather than bring up the rear. Several yards ahead, a small gang of Mobian teens loitered just outside of a farming supply store, the boys helping themselves to hand-packed wads of fresh manure. When the shop owner came storming out with a rake in his grip, they fled with their ammo in Shadow and Cedar's direction. Only Shadow managed to dodge the onslaught of excrement from the jeering hoods as they sprinted past. The moist gobs slapped soundly into a storefront beside him, where they stuck for a moment before dropping in small clumps onto the concrete. Shadow watched with a sour leer as they disappeared around a corner but quickly found his attention back on Cedar, who stood frozen with her dung-capped shoulders hunched in disgust.

"JERKS!" she suddenly spat, slinging feces from the hand she'd used to shield her face. A few bits fell from the front of her dress, leaving rich brown stains. Shadow crossed his arms as she attempted to shake off the rest.

"Friends of yours?" He almost cracked a smile when the normally timid mouse paused to cast him a curled lip leer of her own.

"Yeah, with friends like them I wouldn't have much need for enemies." Clapping her clean hand over her mouth, she struggled to stifle a gag as she caught a whiff of quadruple-digested onion amidst the aroma. Shadow peered down the remainder of the strip, betraying a similar sentiment as he turned to face the merciful wind. After a forced swallow she added, "I'm looking forward to moving, hopefully sometime later this year. I might even stay at my sister's place for a while, if I can get Internet there."

Shadow maintained his gaze, saying nothing.

Just ahead, the owner of the farming supply store lifted a hand to greet them from afar. "Sorry about them boys," he called out, scaling down his voice as they neared. "That's the third time they've done that to somebody this week. I'm gonna have to start locking up my manure." The elderly hound wrenched a hose from behind the case and limped over to a nearby faucet.

"Oh," Cedar took note, suddenly approaching the merchant, "um, would you mind…?" She gestured with her soiled hand to the spots on her dress.

"Heh. Yes, ma'am." He dialed the nozzle to produce a fanned stream and doused her for several seconds. Satisfied, he relaxed his grip, allowing the trigger to sprung back wide with a watery gasp. "Reckon that'll do?"

"Oh yes, that's much better!" the dripping mouse replied. "Thanks!" She waved as the dog bid a farewell nod before returning to Shadow's side. Having watched from a short distance off, the ultimate life form now stood fixing another gaze up the street at nothing in particular. "Windy as it is today, it shouldn't take long to dry off," she commented, but her words fell on unhearing ears again.

She didn't know. She didn't know about the house…and the more he thought about it, the more he wondered if she was even aware that he had killed Maple. She seemed nice enough…and sane enough…but how quickly that could all change with just a few words. But should he be the one to tell her, and if so…when?

"Shadow?" Her hand waved before him again, slinging a bit of water from her fingertips. She could only giggle as he blinked and looked to her somewhat blankly. "Thinking again?"

"…Are there any other major restaurants or stores around here?" he jumped back to task.

"Mmm, there's a pretty big kombucha outlet on the south side of town."

"Mercury wouldn't be interested in that."

Cedar's tail tapped the side of her head in thought. "Other than thaaat…about all I can think of is a street with some specialty cafés on the way to Peony Glade." She looked up to Shadow, who nodded.

"Let's make it quick."

They were across town in minutes. Shadow maintained a challenging pace in an effort to keep Cedar's mind focused on their objective, but the moment they slowed down she needled right back along the least desirable of threads.

"So, um, was my sister's home pretty quiet and all when you lived out there?"

"…Yes," he answered after a daunted pause. "We rarely saw anyone."

"And you never had any major problems with water or electricity, right?"

"…Not really…."

"Hmm…." She further pondered it as she chewed her lip. "—Oh, here's the café street!"

Having reached the lineup of eateries she'd mentioned, she fell quiet for a short while as Shadow stopped and strained to see past the multitude of plants furnished in one called Munch n' Run. She likewise peered as best she could into the ornate Osu Café across the street. In front of still another, a few seated patrons balanced smoldering Llama brand cigarettes between their fingers, marginally acknowledged by Shadow as he idled amidst them for a glance inside. Cedar, however, pushed past him with surprising aggression and continued on until she was several feet away, where she stopped to cough and dart back a leer more venomous than he'd imagined she was capable. He could clearly see her relation to Maple at that moment.

There was no need to ask. He'd barely progressed beyond the tables himself when she spun around and began to vent, her voice glowering with comparable disdain. "Ugh! One thing I _hate_ about our world's being connected to Earth is all the bad habits Mobians have picked up from humans. Back before the portal opened, you used to almost never see Mobians smoking, and now you see it everywhere! And just like the human buttsuckers, most of them act like the whole world's their ashtray!"

"…Buttsuckers?" he echoed with an unfamiliar air.

"Yes, buttsuckers! They suck butts, don't they?"

He merely lifted his brow as they resumed walking. However droll her terminology, it had certainly fouled her mood. At least it had gotten her mind off-

"That's another reason why I'm considering moving into Maple's place. Out there I can eat or relax outside without having to worry about someone smoking upwind."

He had to say _something_. "…It's not in the best of condition these days."

"Oh, I know, it's bound to be rundown from being empty for so long, but I think with a little fixing up it should be fine." Brief silence followed as Cedar nervously chewed her lip. "Um…if you don't mind my asking…how did you and Maple meet exactly?" A couple of fleeting glances shifted his way as he drew an extended breath.

"I was passing through when I accidentally smashed some of her flowers, and she kicked me in the face."

She belted out a laugh. "Really? Hee hee! I bet you never would've guessed in a million years that you two would end up together—or was it love at first kick?" She'd taken a few more steps before realizing Shadow had stopped cold, her eased demeanor quickly reverting as she pivoted to face him with a subtle gape. "I…I'm sorry. I hope that didn't sound insensitive."

He met her eyes in a stony gaze. "Maple and I weren't mates."

And now _her_ eyes were too much, brimming wide into a swirly hazel sea of questions that was rapidly spawning a tide of fear. "You……weren't…?"

"I helped her on her farm…and she helped me with Mercury." By now he'd begun pacing, a firm hand smoothing over his primary quill. His mind scrimmaged through memories, both endearing and agonizing, but neither kind found its way off his tongue. He couldn't bring himself to say any more, to incite the abhorrence and vengeance he knew he ultimately deserved. With an empty breath slipping out, he forced himself to face her again, but her attention had detoured to the nearby woods.

And then he heard it.

A high-pitched, almost squeaky kind of sound, only with a synthetic aura much like Cedar had described, carried faintly from the trees. He, too, found himself searching for its source. At first there seemed nothing out of the ordinary amongst the breeze-swayed branches, but after a few moments the figure of a lone, hooded Mobian peeked out their direction from behind a robust trunk. Someone was following them.

Instantly Shadow toed off, sweeping with blistering speed past his gasping companion to confront the stalker. By the time he got there, though, the individual had been swallowed by the forest. Shadow scanned his surroundings, turning with a snap of the head toward every movement.

"Up there!" Cedar suddenly cried, pointing up the dirt road that led to Peony Glade. The cloaked figure fled over the crest of a sizable hill, where he slipped from sight again.

"No you don't," Shadow grunted as he resumed pursuit, leaving Cedar to follow as best she could. The wind fought his every jet-propelled stride, forcing him to grind an occasional foot into the packed earth to maintain his direction. Over the hill, he spotted the stalker again, who had taken to an air board to enhance his escape. Whoever he was, he was too tall to be Mercury…and Mercury had never cared much for air boards.

Another problem presented itself as they neared Peony Glade; for some reason the streets were overflowing with people. Soon the jubilant refrains of festival music buzzed within earshot, and though Shadow was slowly closing the gap in his pursuit, he knew the circumstances would only complicate matters. Sure enough, it didn't take long to lose track of the stalker as he sailed into the crowds. Shadow skidded to a dust-wrenching halt, breathing hard as he skimmed the multitude of faces for any sign of his target.

Then another sound blared about him, and an obnoxious vibration traveled up his arm. He lifted his wrist and depressed TALK on Sonic's mobile phone.

"…Hello?" Amy's voice came across.

After another fleeting glance at the crowds, he answered, "This is Shadow," just in case she'd forgotten Sonic had loaned the device to him.

"Shadow, hey, I got your message! Have you heard anything from Sonic?"

"No, nothing."

"Me neither. Gosh, I really hope they're okay! I'm getting worried!"

"I'm sure they're fine. He's crashed that plane more times than all of the commercial airlines combined, so it's got to be routine by now."

She paused in a breathy half-laugh. "Yeah, that's true… Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Lydia called and said she has a message for you! She ran into an old friend who she thinks can help find Mercury."

"Where is she now?"

"Um, she said she can meet you at the edge of the Savage Jungle, to just let me know when you're ready so that I can tell her when to head there."

"Understood." Shadow twisted around for a glance at Cedar as she staggered on the scene at last, her hand lifting in a weary wave as she hunched to catch her breath a short distance behind him. "We're almost through here. I should be able to meet her in the morning."

"Oh, and Shadow," Amy added, "Lydia said that her friend wanted to tell you to, uh, 'keep the house under your tongue until your heart has found its home,' whatever _that's_ supposed to mean."

Shadow stood silent for a few seconds, his brow pursed, until his eyes grew wide.

"…Actually," he decided, "tell her I'll meet her there tonight."


	11. Heart of the Jungle

**Author's Note:** Geez, I thought I'd _never_ get this chapter written! Things have been ridiculously busy these last few months, and progress has been painfully slow. This may be the last chapter you see from me this year, so I hope you enjoy! Whether you've been following this saga from the Petal Hinges get-go or are just joining in, I'd totally love to know what you think! Your feedback really helps keep me motivated during these grueling stretches…which in turn helps keep them shorter. You have my heartfelt thanks for your ongoing readership and support!

X x X x X x X x X x X

Chapter 11 – Heart of the Jungle

It was hard to miss the dramatic pillar of smoke staggering through the otherwise clear Californian sky, billowing from the forested Santa Monica mountainside as if an angry new crater had just erupted into being. Arching his neck for another glance from miles away, Tails sighed into a groan. It was about all he'd managed to do since he and Sonic had abandoned the wreckage of his favorite creation. He trailed at an increasing distance as they navigated the densely wooded slope, his thoughts smoldering in similar fashion, until the hedgehog's patience, too, singed thin.

"Hey," Sonic finally called out, his irritation offset with concern as he peered over his shoulder, "you sure you're okay back there?"

"Yeah…." the word idled as if Tails was still trying to decide. "…I'm just kinda mad at myself for being so careless."

"Eh, nobody got hurt, so just consider it a lesson learned."

"I had my prototype engine in there, though. It's going to take me a month to rebuild that thing…."

"At least you managed to save Shadow's phone."

"Yeah…not that it's doing us any good." A hand ran down Tails' face as he groaned. "Uggh, I just feel so dumb!"

"Heh, I can see it now." Sonic waved a hand across an imaginary computer screen, citing an unflattering headline, "Mobian crashes plane while texting and flying."

"I know…here I am sending everyone else the 'don't text and drive' e-mails and videos, only to set the worst possible example!"

"Heh! If it's any consolation, this hasn't exactly been my week either. I swear I've been jinxed lately or somethin'! The other day I just about twisted my ankle in a pothole, and yesterday at McDonald's I spilled ketchup all over myself and poked some guy in the nether regions with my quills, and now here I am with a splitting headache, draggin' your carcass across a mountain." He paused to flash a grounded smirk as a smile crept from his friend's subtle scowl.

"Not to mention that deal at your house last night, right?"

"Hey, believe it or not, I had my reasons for that!"

The smile broadened. "Right." Then it crumpled short. "But seriously, Sonic, please don't put Cedar on the spot like that anymore. I'm trying to make her comfortable around Shadow, which is _not_ an easy thing to do, as shy and edgy as she is."

"Ehh, I still say it's a bad idea, trying to hook those two up after what went down between him and, uh, what's-her-face."

"..Maple?"

"Yeah, Maple." Sonic bobbed a shrug, slowing to his friend's pace. "But even if you totally ignore that part, I still don't see him goin' for someone so timid and shy. What he needs is someone who's open and sunny."

"Like Amy?" the words barely mumbled out. Tails crooked his head down, suddenly afraid to face him at that. He opened his mouth to add something or correct himself, airing only an awkward stutter. "I-I mean…."

"_Amy_," her name planed back like a sour note, "is what happens when you have someone who gets a little too literal with the openness part. No, I was thinking of someone more like Raye."

"Raye…?"

"Yeah, remember her? The yellow hedgehog you met at the house?"

Tails' ears bent. "Hey, you're not trying to set him up with her, are you?"

"She-"

"I told you about what I'm trying to do with Cedar! Do you have any idea how important this is to me? I know you think it's stupid and that she's not his type and that it's not going to work, but can't you just give it a chance, for my sake? Do you really have to-"

"Okay, okay, I get it! Sheesh, you sound like Amy!"

"…Sorry…."

Sonic snorted a hint of a laugh. "Don't sweat it…just…one person lecturing me all the time is enough."

They passed the next several seconds with only the crunch of twigs and brush resounding underfoot. His head somewhat bowed again, Tails then ventured another question. "…How come…it always seems like…you're so down on Amy all the time?"

"Down on Amy? I'm not down on Amy," Sonic's reply came out fast, run together, his brow straight and heavyset. His glare went unseen by Tails, who walked eyeing his hands as he continually clasped and twisted his fingers.

"Just now," he countered, "you were talking about how she took openness too literally with Shadow…and that one day at your house, you made a comment about her being easy or something, and she overheard you…."

"Oh, that? That was just…a stupid joke, and it was meant to be just between us besides! When I tell you stuff like that, it's more about blowing off steam, you know? We're friends, and when I chat with my friends I wanna be able to joke around and say whatever and not have to worry about them taking sides."

"If it's just a joke, why would there even be a side to take?"

Sonic sighed aloud, throwing his own hands up. "Whatever. I'm not in the mood for one of your criticism marathons." He quickened his stride, prompting Tails to do the same.

"I'm not trying to be mean…it's just that I'm concerned. I want you guys to be happy. Please don't be mad." Getting no response, he went on, "Remember back before you and Amy got together, how you would come over to my place all stressed out?"

"No," returned with an empty air.

"You came in one time and asked me if I thought you were selfish…and then you started going on and on about cookies…." The fox voiced a short laugh. "Remember?"

Sonic slowed to a stop, his back remaining to Tails. They'd arrived at the crest of a hill overlooking an enormous valley, the descent into which appeared nearly steep enough to qualify as a freefall. The weary hedgehog swept a glance across the fog-shrouded gulf ahead before answering.

"…Yeah," he eventually recalled, his tone heavy with the unmistakable weight of sorrow. "Seems like it was only a couple of years ago, but at the same time it feels like forever."

Tails stopped beside him, nodding. "Yeah, it does. Did you see yourself being where you are today back then?"

"Well…" hesitation broke in, "…yes and no. Kinda. Just…."

"Just what?"

Now it was Sonic who stood head down, blankly watching his fidgeting fingers. "I…I guess I just wish things had turned out differently. I mean, it's like when you know what you could have had if you'd just…paid attention and seen what was going on and done something about it instead of waiting until it was too late…." His hands clenched into fists before him, and he pressed his eyes together tightly as he steadied himself with a deep breath. "I know in the end I only have myself to blame, but I can't help but hold it against her too. I don't _want_ to feel this way, but every time I think about it I get angry all over again."

Tails swallowed. "Have you told her that?"

"Of course not! She'd tear my head off and cook it for supper!"

"Not necessarily, not if you approached her properly. The only way to truly resolve these kinds of issues is to work through them together. At least, that's what I always read on the online dating forums." The teenage fox cracked a sheepish smile.

"Heh, yeah, easier said than done, Tails." A few more moments of silence brushed their somber faces in a crisp mountain breeze as they continued to stare out over the valley's sublime beauty. Finally Sonic clapped a hand over Tails' shoulder, causing him to flinch. "Sorry to snap at you like that. I know you mean well. You always do."

"I'm sorry too," Tails returned, his voice meek with relief.

"But speakin' of Amy," the familiar upbeat air quickly seeped back into Sonic's articulation, fittingly accompanied by the pops of his knuckles as he stretched his arms overhead, "I bet she's prob'ly startin' to get pretty worried about us. What do ya say we step it up back to civilization? At the rate we're goin' now we may as well've waited for the chopper!"

Tails granted a wholehearted nod. "Go for it!"

"All right," Sonic prompted, assuming the pinball position, "mountainside Pachinko starting in three, two, one—"

"Now!" squealed from the lungs of Misty Iris, who sat tightly gripping her purple GameCube controller as she wrenched in unison with the racecar on her TV screen. Her exuberant game play nearly elbowed Cinnamon's controller out of her hands, but the determined tanuki still managed to fire off their last green koopa shell at the pipe-shaped kart just ahead of the sleek purple one they shared. The projectile just missed its target, skidding fast into the nearby rail and ricocheting to the other side, where it bounced again and then careened into the pipe kart, sending it tumbling end over end. Both girls cheered loudly, but the race wasn't over yet. Around and around the final spiraling bend, Misty swerved to avoid two banana peels, and suddenly Piranha Pipes was trying to pass them again. Though empty-handed now, Cinnamon made the most of their neck-and-neck position to shove the other pesky duo aside. From there Misty made a B-line for the goal. "Go go go go go go YES!" The lavender hedgehog sprang into the air from her bed while her new playmate fell back on the Transformers sheets in relief.

"Whew, that was _way_ too close!" Cinnamon breathed, resting her controller on her belly. "You're right; this is better than the Wii one!"

"Told ya so," Misty quipped as she raised her hands high, forming two letter Vs. She twisted herself side to side in acknowledgement of her throngs of imaginary fans. "Yes! Perfect score!"

Cinnamon quietly watched the energetic hedgehog from where she lay. Her first impressions of Misty had not been the greatest, but since returning to Sonic and Amy's home the two had come to carry on like close friends. They'd stayed up late watching anime and eating popcorn the night before, then made ridiculous flan omelets for breakfast, and now they were sampling Misty's extensive library of video games. As outspoken and over the top as she was, Misty seemed pretty cool after all-or, as they put it in the tanuki community, "she had snatch"-but Cinnamon never really got that expression.

She sat up, allowing her controller to tumble off onto the gray carpet. "You know what would be perfect right now?"

"What?" Misty dropped and bounced.

"A peanut butter and jelly sandwich! With chocolate milk!"

"You're hungry again _already_?"

"What do you mean 'already'?" Cinnamon laughed. "It's been over three hours since we had those corndogs, and that's the closest thing we've had to lunch!"

"Really?" Misty reached in her jumper pocket for her cel phone, then frowned upon remembering why it wasn't there. She leaned to check the Pikachu clock on her dresser. "Hmm. Yeah,, we should reward ourselves for a perfect All-Cup Tour!" She slid off the bed to her feet. "Race ya to the kitchen!" The challenge had scarcely left her tongue before she darted out the door.

"Hey!" Cinnamon knew that the race would be lost by the time she made it into the hallway, but she gave it her best all the same. It was fun just running around and being silly, getting to play with someone who wasn't always reminding her to settle down or constantly talking about boys. Halfway down the hall, she made a quick glance at the sizable photo frame that hung there, her woodsy off-gray eyes skimming several of the 24 snapshots featured within its various polygonal borders, as she'd done every time she'd passed through. One in particular stood out this time, a rather simple but heartwarming shot in which Sonic and Amy stood shoulder to shoulder in the front yard, a younger Misty perched smiling in her father's arms and a boy Cinnamon assumed to be Mercury standing just in front of Amy, her hands resting gently on his shoulders. The tanuki's hurried steps trotted to a standstill as she moved to study the photo a bit more closely. A thoughtful frown developed on her lips as the sight of the missing hedgehog caused her giddy glee to sink into a lopsided rut. After a moment she hopped aside and jogged the rest of the way into the kitchen.

"Geez, 'bout time!" Misty jabbed. "You get lost?"

"I was looking at pictures, thank you," Cinnamon returned in a playful sneer.

"Ew, don't look at those! Embarrassing!"

"At least you don' have an aunt who thinks it's cute to take pictures of you while you're in the bath, like you're still two years old or something!"

Misty snorted while she pulled out the bread. "Oh my gosh, I would _kill_ my mom if she tried to do that!" She ducked into the fridge next. "Hey, what kind of jelly you want?"

"Do you have grape?"

"Yup." A squeezable bottle of grape jam clopped lid-down onto the island table, followed by a jar of apple jelly. "The only kind of peanut butter we got is creamy."

"That's fine." Cinnamon couldn't help but make a face at the large plastic jar that landed with a wobble in front of her, its lid and label sullied with dried brown, red, orange, and dark purple smears. Shifting her gaze back to the fruit spreads, she found that neither of those was much better off. She gladly allowed Misty to prepare the sandwiches.

Both girls had their mouths full of their tasty, chewy, sticky, gooey snack concoctions when Misty spoke up again. "So! Wha' game you wan' play necch?"

"Oh, uhh…" Cinnamon paused to take time to swallow, "well…shouldn' we be…like, checking for Mercury or something..?"

Misty nearly choked, though it was difficult for Cinnamon to tell whether it was due to all the peanut butter or the mention of Mercury's name. After forcing the gob down she chased it with a long chug of milk.

She caught her breath. "…I told you, I don't care if he comes back. He can stay out there and rot!"

"How come you hate him so much? What did he do?"

"Becausch!" the young hedgehog expressed through another bite, pausing to chew for a moment before continuing. "He doesn't even _have_ to do anything. He causes trouble just by being around!"

"What do you mean?"

"Every time he comes over, my parents get mad at each other, and it's always 'Mercury' this and 'Mercury' that, or 'Shadow' this and 'Shadow' that! And he just stands there like, 'Duh, Misty made me break her phone,' or some other dumb thing so that they yell at me too! That's all he's good for is making people mad!"

For a few moments Cinnamon could only stare from behind a pensive reemerging frown. Her breath hung in her waiting mouth as she struggled to make sense of the situation. Finally she shook her head and tried another route.

"What do you think happened to him? You think he ran away?"

"I know he did."

Cinnamon leaned forward. "How do you know that?"

"Because I finally told him off the last time he was here." Misty turned her nose up and brought her eyelids to a delicate close, as if proud. Cinnamon's eyes only widened all the more.

"W-what do you mean? What'd you tell him?"

Misty shrugged. "Just how he was nothing but trouble; same thing I told you, basically. My parents were already fighting, _again_, when he showed up, and take a wild guess what that was about."

"Him…?"

"Him and Shadow. And he was wanting to go inside and talk to Mom, because I guess she wasn't already mad enough, so I really let him have it. I yanked him over to the window so he could see for himself, and I told him to just get lost already…and, well, he did," she finished with another shrug. "So, like I said, good riddance."

"But now everybody else is all upset and out looking for him," Cinnamon pointed out, her voice somewhat weak.

"Yeah, hopefully they won't find him."

"…Gosh…." The tanuki's eyes took to the floor. "I had no idea this was so…."

"Disdurbing?" echoed Lydia the lynx, who trekked a few paces ahead of Shadow along the vine-entwined outskirts of the Savage Jungle, a world and several time zones away. In this region dawn already drew near, though for Shadow the sun could not arrive soon enough. His wary eyes scanned as best they could the dense tropical maze that lay ahead, eager waiting maws from which an endless cool breath rolled out to him.

"It feels almost as though I'm walking into a giant trap," he clarified, "like everything is ready to close in on me."

Lydia flashed an unseen smile. "What you say is not far from deh tuh-ruth. It is said dhat dhis jungle will devour deh people it does not like."

"You're saying this place doesn't like me?" He blinked irritably as she laughed.

"I am saying dhat we must be vedy careful."

"How far is it to that person you mentioned?"

"She is in deh old village of my tuh-ribe. It will dake about tuh-ree hours tuh get dhere." Sensing his displeasure, she went on, "I am sure dhis will be well worth your while."

Shadow didn't answer; he was busy once again freeing his canvas sling-tote from the unforgiving overgrowth. This time he tugged the bag off his shoulder and worked the knot free, bringing its ends apart to look over its contents. Lydia backtracked to him for a glimpse as well. Not much remained inside; of the food Sally had provided, he had only two small strips of jerky and a single serving of nuts left. There was also a flexible canteen and a purple-hued trinket bearing a keychain.

"Dhese dhings I can fit in my pockets," Lydia offered of the food, "and deh wadder can go on my belt." Squinting, she reached in and plucked the odd trinket out, dangling it overhead against the dim sky. "What is dhis…?"

"Cedar bought it for me at the Peony Glade Fickleberry Festival."

"Ah, yes, I can see it looks like deh big fickleberry." She ran a finger over its glazed contours, taking note of a tiny knob on the bottom end. "It opens?"

"It has nail clippers inside."

"Ah ha ha! I see! I will put dhis in my pocket also, unless you would like tuh hold it yourself." A fond feline smile extended past it to him. He turned away, casting the canvas to the ground, and another laugh capped her breath. "Let us move on."

Daylight soon flooded the sky, permeating with ease the rich foliage canopy that flourished on high. Illumination revealed an entirely new environment to Shadow, one far from the sinister snare he'd stepped into, its jaws instead a network of arteries teeming with life. Traversing its unspoiled depths rejuvenated his weary soul in a way that defied explanation; it was as if his heart had brushed against the very source of his hope. And, as Lydia traded their pace for one much swifter, he noticed something else. The collective tapestry of various rainforest flora, from vines to trees to stretches of thick moss, streamed by in a blurry gradient of distinct colors. Green eventually became blue, then deepened into a silvery tint of violet, followed by a fade to magenta, then a rush of red, and even a streak of orange, before paling into a limey yellow that soon returned to green.

"Is this some kind of optical illusion," Shadow finally asked, "or is this place actually changing colors?"

"Deh colors you see are real," Lydia confirmed. "Dhat is deh way deh jungle grows. It was known long ago tuh my people as deh Rainbow Jungle."

Shadow lifted a subtle nod, noting how Lydia's fur exhibited a similar gradient beneath its jet black spots, starting reddish-brown at her head and graduating to the earthy shade of orange that spanned her arms and legs. At times, when her tank top would hike above the waistline of her cropped cargo khakis, yellowish fur would peak out, the same hue as her bobbed tail aside from a hint of green near its tip.

It brought to mind an old book he'd read to Mercury on Maple's farm, about little wingless bird-like creatures called fobs who came in a vivid assortment of colors. "Must be something in the water," he mumbled.

The journey progressed smoothly overall, aside from the occasional minor stumble or scrape. Lydia did most of the talking, partially due to her more social nature and partially because it was even more difficult to understand anything she was saying when on the move. It seemed they'd traveled hundreds of miles through essentially identical terrain when, just beyond a particularly steep, mossy ridge, an unnatural clearing lined with dried braided vines marked the boundary of their destination.

Turning to Shadow with an accomplished smile, Lydia addressed him in a proud but suppressed voice, "Welcome tuh Madaboruma."

Shadow peered past her at a cluster of dilapidated dwellings, where vines crept in and out of windows and thin strips of tree bark siding peeled and bowed. All stood in lifeless silence.

"This place looks deserted."

"Yes, most of my tuh-ribe have gone. It is normal tuh move deh village about every den years."

"Where are they now?"

"I…do not know." Lydia continued walking around the former huts, leading the way to a small handmade cave a short distance behind them. She raised a hand at the entrance, urging Shadow to wait as she hunched over and ventured inside. After a few moments she returned. "Please come in."

Just a few steps forth, it was already too dark for him to see. He walked bent at a nearly 45-degree angle, his quills scraping the packed earth ceiling. The floor had been very level thus far, but he nonetheless proceeded with blind caution. A short distance ahead, large sparks suddenly leapt through the blackness. Shadow froze and watched as a tiny flame appeared, then rapidly expanded over a mound of dried moss and sticks, revealing the form of Lydia crouched nearby, as well as the face of another lynx—a female much older with a feeble frame and dry, matted fur. She sat cross-legged behind the fire, wrapped in a tattered makeshift cloak.

Lydia gently touched the other lynx on the shoulder. "Ba-Jileura, dhis is my friend Shadow deh hedgehog."

"Ohhh," Jileura croaked, leaning forward for a better look as he approached, "Hedgehog, you say? How nice. Welcome to our village, Hedgehog. My name is Jileura." She spoke with an accent drastically different from that of Lydia, though just as unfamiliar. "What brings you to the heart of the jungle?"

"Ba," Lydia interjected, "dhis is deh one whose son is missing."

"Missing? Ohh, oh yes. The one you told me about." She gestured to Shadow. "Come, come and sit." As he did so, she offered him a primitive bowl of dry roots. "You poor thing. Here, take one. I'm so sorry about your son."

Shadow glanced at the root in his hand, unsure what to do with it. "…Can you explain your message to me from yesterday?"

"Message?" she echoed. "What message?"

Lydia responded again, "Deh message you gave me for him, Ba…keep in deh house undil your heart is home…?" She looked to Shadow, who crooked an ear.

"Keep the house under your tongue until…your heart is at home…something to that effect," he sighed.

Jileura gawked at Shadow, then Lydia. "…I said dat?"

"It was deh last dhing you said tuh me before I left last night."

Shadow sat balancing the bulky root across his fingers in the awkward silence that followed, the writhing flames before him beginning to devour the images of tropical chromaticism still fresh within his mind…and all the encouragement that had come with them.

"Please, Ba," Lydia pressed, "Mistuh Shadow has come a long way tuh see you. Can you not see where his son is?"

"Ohhh, his missing son." The elderly lynx smacked her chops woefully, bowing her head in a moment of meditation. "…Some plumpoos, I need some." Lydia nodded quickly.

"Okay, Ba, I'll go get you some plumpoos. Mistuh Shadow, please come with me."

Outside the cave, the pair paused to adjust to the onslaught of sunlight, and Lydia took hold of Shadow's arm as she shook her head. "I want tuh give you my apology for her, because I am afraid she is gedding old, and her mind is not so clear…."

He squinted at her. "What exactly was it you were hoping she would do?"

"Here, come with me," she beckoned, trotting ahead. "I will explain on deh way."

Plumpoos, it turned out, were soft, juicy, football-sized fruits native to the Savage Jungle that grew on trees just outside the village, over 30 feet from the ground. As she led Shadow into the midst of the towering orchard, Lydia began to describe Jileura's inherent ability to foresee events and locate individuals who bore a significant connection to the people of her tribe. Bringing him to meet her, Lydia reasoned, would enable her to envision Mercury's whereabouts.

She adjusted her tank top and began to climb one of the narrow, winding trunks. "If we can just get her tuh focus and make a connection with you, I am sure she can find your son," she asserted.

"So it's kind of like tarot," Shadow mused.

"Oh no, not at all. With darot and deh craft of deh witch you must use spells or cards, but dhis power she has is a gift. She does not need tuh use anydhing."

"I see."

At the treetop, Lydia carefully twisted one of the fruits until it broke free, then cradled it in her arm while she retrieved another. She also tried for a third, but it slipped from her already crowded grip. Shadow moved to catch it.

"No, don't," Lydia warned, too late. The moment it struck his hands it burst like a balloon into a sticky maroon mess. She peered down with a toothy grimace. "Dhis many is enough."

After a quick rinse in the nearest creek, Shadow returned with Lydia to Jileura's home, where they found her just as they'd left her, with one difference.

"She's snoring," the younger lynx noted upon a closer check. Placing both hands on Jileura's shoulders, she jolted her softly. "Ba…Ba! Wake up!" She forced a smile as the former matriarch coughed into consciousness. "We have brought you deh plumpoos." With a gesture to Shadow, she prompted him to set them on the floor beside her.

Jileura never looked up. Instead she inhaled deeply. "…It's hot."

"Shall I douse deh fi—" Lydia's words caught in her mouth as Jileura raised a silencing hand.

"It's hot," the psychic resumed. "There is fire blooming as a flower, and great thunder, shaking the loose earth. Pink light is falling as many pieces of purple glass."

Shadow gasped. "Where?"

Jileura exhaled. "I…I am sorry…I cannot see any more at this time."

"I knew you could do it!" Lydia exclaimed, clasping her anxious hands. Shadow clenched his fists.

"But that doesn't really _help_ me," he emphasized through his teeth.

"Do not worry," Lydia countered quickly. "If we allow her tuh focus dhere is a good chance dhat more will come tuh her."

Jileura nodded and peered up at them. "Yes. Give it some time."

Shadow gazed into the fire, a hand running over his quills. "If what you've described is true," he replied slowly, "time may have already run out."

"Nonsense," Jileura barked. "Without hope there can be no vision." She snatched up one of the plumpoos and sank her teeth into it, allowing its sticky juice to run down her arms.

"I am sure what she saw is not as bad as it sounded," Lydia added, at which Jileura looked up from her meal.

"No, it was very bad," she uttered between smacks. "But there is more. I can feel it coming." She took another large bite, her slurps resounding loudly throughout the cave as Shadow and Lydia muddled lost through their thoughts.

Within minutes she was hunched over again, firmly gripping her knobby knees. "I can see a face…like the face of Hedgehog, but a child. He is…falling…into the earth…and the earth is falling on him…." Her breaths dragged heavy as the other two looked on, Lydia blinking tears from her eyes and Shadow fiercely biting back the growing mountain of questions. "There are many faces watching, many humans…and…Hedgehog…Hedgehog is there too."

Shadow snapped forward. "What?"

Jileura's head sank even lower, and all at once she fell silent. Lydia turned to Shadow.

"_It must mean dhat she has seen deh fu-chuh_," she whispered.

He could only stare back, eyes wide and mouth agape. Another ocean of questions rushed him, and all competed to reach his tongue first. Only one escaped on a hoarse half-breath.

"…_Where?_"

"Where?" Jileura suddenly spoke, and both heads whipped about. "Where is your heart, Shadow?"

She'd never called him that before.

"…I don't understand what you're asking," he answered.

"Your heart has deceived you. You must find its home."

"What I _need_ to find is my son," the words emerged bitter.

"Your heart holds the key to finding your son. If you release her, she will lead you to him."

"She?"

"Yes. The key is she who seeks to unlock the door of your heart."

Jileura coughed with a sharp rasp, sitting rigidly upright as she pounded her chest with her fist. "UGH-CUGH-CUGH! Cursed plumpoo juice! Why did you have to bring me those wretched things?"

Shadow and Lydia exchanged speechless glances.


End file.
